I strongly belive that blogging has definitely helped me in this learning process. Blogging has helped me so much as far as  finding a different outlet to express my views of certain topics. Blogging has helped me a lot especially when we had to blog about things that I didn’t know much about such as computer literacy, or mobile devices such as blackberries. By doing the research so I could first find out what they actually did, or were, then I learned about those topics and was able to express what I thought about them through my blogs.

          One of the things I would really like to point out that I learned in this magnificent journey is when we  each had to do a research presentation on a certain topic off of chapter seven. Although my actual presentation was cut short due to going passed the time limit, doing the research over data security and backup (the topic I was assigned) was something I gain a lot of knowledge about. Thanks to this assignment I am now considering acquiring some data security myself to prevent anyone from accessing my personal information. Also, I  now know to back up often and on different devices such as a flash drive or a floppy disk, to prevent losing certain files in case of some sort of catastrophe. Sure there were plenty of other chapters where I learned a lot, like chapter three (Using the Internet), or chapter four (Application Software), but I strongly feel that the information I acquired from chapter seven (Networking and Security) will help me the most in my daily life. 

          So in other words I believe I learned a lot through doing research on things that were so alien to me. I believe that what I learned and the most effective way I learned the materials in this class was through doing the research myself. Sure there were plenty of times when I felt like giving up, or got really frustrated with this class, but as I look back now at how far I’ve come, I think I’m actually going to miss the times I had in this class. So what can I say, I walked in a caveman and walked out with the skills of an average computer user, and that to me is a lot of progress, so thank you and goodbye!

          First of all I loved how she pointed out that not all hackers are necessarily bad. She obviously did her research by describing the differences of a “good” hacker and a “bad” hacker. White-hat hackers (the good guys) are hackers who perform services for society by helping companies uncover the vulnerabilities in their systems. White-hat hackers also look down on black-hat hackers (the bad guys) who use their knowledge to corrupt systems, or for illegal gain. She stated that the terms white-hat and black-hat are references to classic western movies where the good cowboys wore white and the bad guys wore black hats, which I thought was quite interesting to me.

          Before her presentation I had no clue to what a computer cracker was. Now from what I understand, a cracker is someone who uses low-level hacker skills to do cracking. Also these amateur hackers can be refered to as script kiddies, who are not usually proficient in covering their electronic tracks.

          After doing a little bit of research myself,  one thing I completely agreed with in her presentation, and I’m glad she pointed out was how hackers can use trojan horses (a type of malware) to install backdoor programs. Backdoor programs allow hackers to take complete control of someone’s system (without them knowing it) and can turn their computers into zombies. Once your computer has been turned into a zombie hackers can launch denial-of-service (DoS) attacks from your computer, in a denial-of-service attack, computer users are denied access to a computer system because the hacker has repeatedly made too many requests. Also savvy hackers can can use distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) which are automated attacks that are being launched from multiple zombies at a time.

          There was honestly not one thing I disagreed with in her presentation, but I was glad to get more information about the usage of firewall. I knew it was important to have firewall on your computer, but I wasn’t too sure of what firewall actually did. Now, thanks to her presentation I know that firewall keeps you safe from hackers and that firewalls specifically designed for home networks are called personal firewalls.

          I don’t have much to add from my personal experience except that I already know to avoid most advertisements on the internet, because most of them are just scams. Overall I belive Tania’s presentation was an excellent presentation, with the knowledge I acquired from it, I now know not to judge all hackers, and that just to be on the safe side I should install firewall into my computer immediately if it’s not already there.

    As we all know, technological advances are made each and everyday; most to improve or benefit our society. With that said, I believe that these inventions are examples of creativity. I believe that technology in most cases is needed in order to inspire our creativity.

     Let’s say I was a famous sculptor, and wanted to sculpt the perfect sculpture. Well first off I know that I would need the right tools to get started and help me throughout the process. The tools I use are perfect examples of technology contributing to this creation. Without these tools (or technology) I would not be able to complete my beloved creation. Therefore we need technology to help us with our creations.

     Also in most cases technology save time and makes the creating process more efficient. Another good example to strengthen my point is let’s say your teacher want you to write an elaborate essay on a topic that is completely alien to you. My first thought would be to try to do a little research on the foreign topic by using an encyclopedia or dictionary, thus hinting the use of technology to help me create the perfect essay.

     Technology is also contributes to innovation in creativity. A great example would be a guitarist using a different kind of tuning, or pedal on the guitar creating a new sound. This kind of innovation in creativity wouldn’t be able to take place without the use of technology.

     Although it is hard to explain, I hope you get what I am trying to convey. Technology is a major influence on creativity, and therefore does not stifle creativity. Maybe this blog might help you to better undetand my point :http://robwall.ca/2009/03/10/creativity-is-the-new-technology/

        Punk first fully entered my life at the age of 16, I was so sick of all the the boring, generic, dishonest music that was going around all over the tv, and radio at that time (and still today). All that stuff just seemed so fake to me and it just looked like most of  those bands only cared about being famous and looking cute. Especially all the “hardcore/pop bands” that were considered popular amongst scene kids, it seemed as though music was becoming more of a fashion statement than a way of life. Which was why I started a band with my classmate Jay who also shared the same views as me. We didn’t really know where to go with the music we made, but we knew we wanted it to be as far away from that as possible.

        We later decided that we wanted to rebel against everything we hated that was considered popular by most kids our age. I had always had a good feeling towards punk music, I liked a couple bands here and there, but I’ never really payed too much attention to it. As weeks went on we noticed that the music we were creating had a really strong “punkish” sound to it, and we later decided that was the sound we wanted. It was fast, straight to the point, funny at times, and packed with raw human emotion which I fell in love with and could relate to.

       As recording sessions got heavier I realized I needed some more inspiration. Which was why I went out and purchased “On The Front Line” by The Casualties (a punk band I’d heard great stuff about). That CD changed my life, every single track on that CD I felt I could relate to, and no other band or genre had done that for me before. From there on I went to discover other punk bands which would also become favorites of mine such as Leftover Crack, The Adicts, Career Soldiers, and Rancid (just to name a few).

        Since discovering punk music, my life hasn’t been the same. Punk music has set me free from the preasures of life, looking a certain way, or trying to be something I’m not. Punk allows me to express myslef, makes me feel proud of who I am, and happy to be me. And that is why “Punk’s a way of life, not a materialistic thing!!!” (a quote from one of my band’s songs).

Good song from the band that opened my eyes

                          We all know that with a Blackberry one can use the web, game around, keep schedauls, use GPS, etc. According to http://ezinearticles.com/ , but it is not a computer, just a phone with computer-like capabilities. Other devices such as the iPhone http://www.apple.com/iphone/operate in nearly the same way and also contain hard drive, processor, internal memory, and wireless capabilities, but still not considered a computer. With technolgy being upgraded as time goes on it is possible that the future may one day give birth to a device that does it all. According to http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GX/global/ there are many new features that these devices will hold by 2010.

                         “The Whoop!” I would call it, the device that does it all! It would pretty much just be the upgraded version of the Blackberry and iPod combined into one. “The Whoop!” would hold 200 megabytes of memory, internet access, voice recognition, a hard drive that won’t wear out, GPS, you name it, it has it all!

                         But even with an invention such as this one, there’s bound to someday be an upgraded version. I believe that technology will just keep on upgrading itself to the point where it will never end. In my eyes there will always be an up graded version of something out there.

Computer literacy now is way different compared to twenty or thirty years ago. For one, when computers were just coming out they used to be really huge, and now they’re so small you can take them on the go almost everywhere. Nowadays almost every family all over the world has at least one computer in their house. Also since then computers now have so many different applications that didn’t exist twenty or thirty years ago, such as internet, I tunes, and Microsoft word.

In today’s world being computer literate is a nessecity, almost everything is done through computers, communication, shopping and even applying for jobs. Many of the jobs today only accept online applications and ot only that but also require one to have some level of computer literacy. And thanks to the advancement in computer literacy many of today’s jobs did not exist twenty to thirty years ago. And at this rate the many jobs of tomorrow don’t exist now.

Even Communicating has changed, now everyone talks through text, or via e-mail. Everything keeps changing all so rapidly. Also today’s kids by the age of 5 or 6 have some level of computer literacy, even higher than their parents as well.

With the ways that computers have impacted our everyday lives, who knows where we’ll be twenty or thirty years from now. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

                    Since turning sixteen back in March of that year, I had pleaded and begged my parents to teach me, but neither of them were too enthusiastic of me learning just yet. They had so many excuses for me not to learn and for them to not teach me, “What if you crash?” ”What if someone else crashes into to you?” “You don’t have any insurrance, or a license!” “It’s not that we don’t trust you, we just think you’re too young and we care about your safety.” They would say.  I was so frustrated by their excuses. I would think to myself: “I know I have to be careful, I mean I’m responsible, I get good grades and stay out of trouble, what else do I have to do to get their trust?”

                    Finally I gave up on my parents, I knew they weren’t going to do anything. Then it hit me, I knew who to turn to, my uncle Miguel! “If you ever need anything just ask me” he would say. Now was the perfect time to put him to the test. Behind my mom’s back I secretly called him and explained everything. He agreed to teach me that very weekend. I was so happy and couldn’t wait to get started!

                     “Okay well this is the brake, the gas pedal, the shift, ect.” He explained. “Now put it in drive, you’re taking me to Blockbuster.” He requested. Really? On my first lesson, wow, now there’s the kind of trust I was talking about! After driving there, he showed me how to park, go in reverse, and all the simple first steps; this was way easier than I thought it would be.

                     After a couple practices of the same routines I was officially a safe driver. The the time came to reveal the big secret to my parents. They were bothered at first, but then my uncle re-assured them and it all worked out.