Cloud based tool tutorial

For my cloud based tool I chose to cover Dropbox. I started using Dropbox just last year and have installed it on all my mobile devices as well as my laptop. It allows me to access my photos and documents from virtually anywhere and also share them with friends and family. Hopefully the tutorial linked below will guide you to setting up and using Dropbox as well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BznqLTNqykhWeE1mUmZCR1FURlU/edit?usp=sharing

Week 14- Google Car

Today, my friends, we are one step closer to the future man has been dreaming of for years; self-driving cars. That's right Google has apparently been testing their automated driving system, imaginatively titled Google Car, out in California and have logged over 700,000 miles so far (2014, Miners). So far they seem to be getting better at identifying road hazards associated with city streets such as construction, stopped cars, cyclists, and those oh-so-evil pedestrians. What this means is that Google is still making strides to one day automating the driving experience so that people don't have to stop playing Flappy Birds, Tweeting their lunch plans, or taking selfies.
I personally would love to see this happen if not for the reasons others would. The ability for a car to drive an injured person (or someone that had a heart attack while driving) to the hospital even if they are unconscious, or prevent someone from swerving into oncoming traffic because they fell asleep at the wheel; these are the scenarios that I am most interested in taking advantage of Google Car. Convenience will always be a factor, but the possibilities for a safer driving experience should always come first.



Miners, Z. (2014, April 28). Google's self-driving cars are cruising through neighborhoods. Retrieved from InfoWorld website: http://www.infoworld.com/d/consumerization-of-it/googles-self-driving-cars-are-cruising-through-neighborhoods-241468

Useful Cloud Based Tools

Below are some cloud based tools/apps that I think could be useful. I haven't used all of them, but if I had need of what they offer I certainly would.

Evernote- http://evernote.com/evernote/
Evernote is the cloud replacement for post-it notes. It is an app that saves information such as to-do lists, reminders, notes, and more. Anything that a person might would do to make a note of something is available from audio to video. All of this information is stored on the cloud and is accessible either from their website or through a free app available on most mobile platforms. Information can be shared with friends who also have and Evernote account. Limits are placed on the data uploaded per month for the free account, but the premium and business versions (which you pay for) increase this.

Mint- https://www.mint.com/what-is-mint/?cid=ppc_gg_b_stan_Main-Mint&kw=mint&srid=sr3_1906961_go
Mint is a cloud based financial tracking tool. It allows you to collect all your financial information to one secure spot on the cloud and track it from anywhere. Mint can be used to establish budgets, payment reminders, account alerts and more. Information is secured by the same means as regular online banking and is available on their website or through a mobile app.

Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader- http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_karl?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
Amazon offers a free e-book reader app for mobile devices and computers that allows you to read or sync e-books from the cloud. This requires you to create a free Amazon account (or link an existing one), and books must go through Amazon to be read on the app. E-books can be bought, but there are a number of books available free on the Amazon marketplace (mostly classics) or through local library programs such as Overdrive.

Dropbox- https://www.dropbox.com/
Probably one of the most well know cloud storage programs in the world, Dropbox is also one of the most popular. While it's true that you only start with 2Gb of storage for the free service, it is relatively easy to expand this by adding friends through shared folders, downloading the Dropbox interface app to a computer, and syncing up with a mobile app. I was able to more than double my available storage within minutes simply by doing things I was already planning to do. Shared folders can be secured so that only the owner can alter them or other users can be allowed more privileges.

Google Cloud Print- https://www.google.com/cloudprint/learn/
Google Cloud Print allows a user to connect a networked or internet connected printer to the cloud and print to it from anywhere they have internet access. This works best with printers already designed for cloud use, but is usable with all printers. Google Cloud Print is limited to a certain list of apps (Chrome first and foremost) that are compatible with the service, but that list is rather long and includes items from every variety of device.

Week 13 - Nanotechnology

Growing up I was always fascinated by science fiction. Between Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Wars my imagination was catapulted into the future and the amazing things we might one day be capable of. Over the past 30 years, I have seen a steady progression towards that future (minus stupid flying cars) and this past week we have taken another step through nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is a science developed around microscopic machines or items that work towards a specific purpose and often self-replicate. In science fiction they perform microscopic surgery from the inside of the patient, rebuild space ships, and destroy civilizations; but today we are talking about batteries. An Israeli company called StoreDot has created a crystal NanoDot that acts as a capacitor for improved electrical flow. At a recent industry event in Tel Aviv, they were able to fully charge a dead Samsung battery to full charge in less than a minute. (Lomas, 2014) There appear to be many more possible applications of the technology and my inner geek can't help but get excited about another piece of my childhood dreams coming true.

Lomas, Natasha. (2014, April 7). "StoreDot’s Bio-Organic Battery Tech Can Charge From Flat To Full In 30 Seconds." Techcrunch.com Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/07/storedots-bio-organic-battery-tech-can-charge-from-flat-to-full-in-30-seconds/

Check out this link for an interview with the CEO of Nanotronics Imaging:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/07/keen-on-nanotechnology-how-it-changes-everything/

Week 12 - Thunderbolt

Like most of us, I am used to plugging almost everything into my computer via USB. It was only as I started researching components for a new computer that I discovered that USB (currently on version 3.0) is not the only game in town any more and I don't mean Firewire or SATA either. In the past few years Intel has released a new I/O connector called Thunderbolt. Currently on its second version Thunderbolt 2 Technology boasts an amazing transfer rate of 20 Gbps (Shah, 2014). This is in comparison to USB 3.0 which has a transfer rate of 5 GBPS. USB is trying to catch up, but their new release for later this year, USB 3.1, is only rated at 10 Gbps which is equal to the original Thunderbolt (USB, 2014). So the question is, "Why haven't we heard more about this amazing technology?"

The answer is simple and comes down to two reasons:
First is cost. Like any new technology the starting cost is higher that existing technology. As time passes new technology will become cheaper as production costs improve and streamline into better methods and materials.
Second is inertia. The market is saturated with USB. Any new tech that might displace USB is fighting against all the companies and manufacturers that already have invested in USB and don't want the expense required to change their products. You are also struggling against the public and their perception of USB as the best I/O connection out there. People are often slow to change, especially if they don't see a problem with the existing technology.

Since the creator of Thunderbolt is Intel, it is starting to make a big push. As of right now we are only seeing Thunderbolt in a few areas, though it is growing. Thunderbolt can be found in some Apple computers and peripherals, newer high end motherboards for Intel processors, external hard drives, express docks, and more. If you don't have a motherboard that supports Thunderbolt you can purchase a expansion card by third parties such as ASUS.

Shah, Agam. (2014, March 11.) "Intel bides time on faster Thunderbolt connector." PCWorld. Retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2106680/intel-bides-time-on-faster-thunderbolt-connector.html

(2014, April.) "SuperSpeed USB." USB.org Retrieved from http://www.usb.org/developers/ssusb

https://thunderbolttechnology.net/

Week 11

This week I want to address one of the biggest problems facing IT departments across the country if not the world...the users. Maybe this is coming out of my own experience, but probably eighty to ninety percent of the issues I deal with every day are not problems with the computers or other devices it's the people using them. This isn't to say they are doing anything on purpose to mess with the computer. The majority of issues are because they don't know what they are doing. This is especially the case amongst older tech users. They didn't grow up with computers and depending on their career may never have had to use one. Suddenly they are faced with a plethora of devices that confuse and sometimes frighten them (not in the horror sense but more the "Oh my god, I don't know what to do with this!" sense). Luckily ignorance is something that we as IT personnel can fix. A large part of my job is sitting down with people and showing them how to use their new laptop, Ipad, Kindle or other device. I also spend a significant amount of time teaching grandparents how to go online and email their families or fill out applications.
This is to say that even though we complain about the insane things we see the people around us do to their computers, one of our most important jobs is to educate and train the people we support so that they don't keep opening up strange emails and downloading viruses. To that end I would like to share a couple of links to sites that I use on a fairly regular basis when working with the public. Both are free and contain both videos and activities to help with training.

 
www.gcflearnfree.org
This link is to the Goodwill Community Foundation Learn Free website. They have an amazing selection of videos and tutorials on topics from internet or computer basics to how to use Facebook.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/
Microsoft's very own site for training for Office products. This includes previous versions of office like 2007 and 2010 as well as Office for Apple devices.

Week 10 - Youtube

Like most of my generation I spent many an hour everyday, often 3 or more, in front of the television. That number has shifted more or less over the years until one day several years ago I discovered YouTube. YouTube is a website where anyone can create and upload videos to share with the public. While viral videos of cats, babies, vlogs and people hurting themselves continue to be ridiculously popular; product reviews, news and how-to videos are heavily represented. As someone who has tried to help people over the phone with technical issues or any number of other problems, it brings a great deal of joy to my day when I can go on YouTube and find a video of a professional demonstrating exactly how to solve the problem. I am seeing this very heavily in the IT profession as well. There are entire series on various technology related issues and how to handle them your self. I personally learned years ago how to use a soldering iron properly. I have included a few links below to examples of this amazing trend, including one put out by YouTube on how to use YouTube, and I hope to see it continue.

https://www.youtube.com/user/YouTubeHelp

https://www.youtube.com/user/iyogi

https://www.youtube.com/user/CNETTV

Week 9- Apps

There is a word that has emerged into today's vocabulary that everyone in our society knows, whether they know what it actually means or not. That word is "app".  We are bombarded on a daily basis with companies and products promoting that "there's an app for that". When Apple coined that phrase a couple of years ago I don't think anyone foresaw just how imbedded in our society it would become.
An app, short for application, is a software package or program that does something. It could be something small like a timer, or something big like a health tracker/calorie counter, or it could simply allow you to twist the pictures you take of people into funny shapes. Apps have grown along with smartphones and are found on most portable devices such as tablets as well. Apps are wide spread and cover the gamut of interests great and small. Businesses have capitalized on this by saturating the market with free or inexpensive apps that constantly bombard the consumer with ads promoting their products. Many corporations have entire IT departments working to develop apps for banking, entertainment, product integration and more.
While the usefulness of apps can't be denied, the majority are time wasters.  New, seemingly addictive games are constantly trending with the public and the prevalence of smartphones means that the distractions go with you everywhere. Companies no longer can just monitor or block traffic to known distracting sites on employee computers, they have to contend with John playing Candy Crush Saga in the bathroom. While company issued smartphones can be outfitted with apps to monitor or block other distracting apps, this doesn't help with personal devices.


Austin, Kelly. (2014, February 5). Smartphones Distracting Employees from Office Tasks. MobileSpy. Retrieved from http://www.mobile-spy.com/blog/smartphones-distracting-employees-in-office/

Smartphones Distracting Employees From Office Tasks - See more at: http://www.mobile-spy.com/blog/smartphones-distracting-employees-in-office/#sthash.32YAZFPq.dpuf

Smartphones Distracting Employees From Office Tasks - See more at: http://www.mobile-spy.com/blog/smartphones-distracting-employees-in-office/#sthash.32YAZFPq.dpuf

Smartphones Distracting Employees From Office Tasks - See more at: http://www.mobile-spy.com/blog/smartphones-distracting-employees-in-office/#sthash.32YAZFPq.dpuf

Week 8- Crowdfunding

A few years ago I started hearing about this new site called Kickstarter. I was told that people would put ideas, projects, most anything up there and if you liked the idea you could essentially pre-purchase whatever they were selling and support the idea. This blew my mind. Anyone that had ever thought, "If I just had the money, I bet I could make that and sell millions!" could now go online and try to convince the internet how awesome their idea really was.
Since I backed my first project in 2012 crowdfunding has exploded across the internet. Multiple sites have sprung up catering to different types of projects and crowdfunding has become a multi-billion dollar phenomenon. Everything from art, music, technology, games, and movies can now be supported by the people who want to enjoy them. We aren't tied to a corporate entity somewhere telling us what we should or should not get to enjoy.
Since 2012, I have backed 19 projects. I like to think that I have helped to bring some pretty amazing things to the marketplace through my support (funding and social marketing), and I look forward to seeing what projects pop up next.


Barnett, Chance. (2013, May 8) Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites for Fundraising. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/chancebarnett/2013/05/08/top-10-crowdfunding-sites-for-fundraising/

Week 7 - Phoning it in, in 2014

As anyone that has worked in a business environment knows, one of the most dreaded aspects is the "never-ending meeting." That is not to say that all meetings are bad, but they have a tendency to either drag on too long or degenerate into a chaotic mess of blame and complain. Add to that the fact that time spent in a meeting is time that could be spent actually doing something, and a lot of people dread and resent them. Enter the teleconference. For years the business professional on the go has had the option of the conference call. They would dial into the meeting and participate via phone (now cell phone) and they could be anywhere. Over the years this has evolved to cell phones and a large push was made to start incorporating video.
Today, what was once a grainy and static filled mess with bad audio, has become a mobile HD experience used by some of the biggest companies in the world (Collett, 2014). Advances in technology have put videoconferencing in the palm of our hands via smartphones and laptops are almost guaranteed to have a built in web camera. This allows global communication such that it doesn't matter where a person is they can participate in important meetings.
It also has opened up a new market for speakers and experts to be hired for events at a largely discounted cost. There are a growing number of authors, experts, speakers, and consultants that are willing to Skype or Face Time into a meeting for little or nothing. With no travel costs and minimal time consumption many companies are turning to this as an option and websites, such as Zintro, are gathering these experts under one site. This has spread to classrooms, community groups, we even have looked at inviting a children's author to Skype in at the library for a Q&A session.
The point is, with the capability of telepresence on a global scale there is no end to how much more interesting and productive those boring old meeting can become. Fore example, my brother, a mid-high level executive at a prominent worldwide bank, recently had a teleconference that consisted of around 25 people where only 10 of those individuals were in the same board room. The rest were scattered around the globe and this was business as usual.


Pradhan, Nitin. (2014, January 23). Better Videoconferencing in the Cloud. InformationWeek.  Retrieved from http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-computing/better-videoconferencing-in-the-cloud/d/d-id/1113504

Collett, Stacy. (2014, January 20). Facebook CIO Supports Video Calls to Preserve Employee Culture. CIO. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/746946/Facebook_CIO_Supports_Video_Calls_to_Preserve_Employee_Culture#undefined

Week 6

Today I want to talk about tablet computers and their growing use in the business environment. While desktops and laptops are still the mainstay in most companies, tablets are a growing presence. Many IT professionals I know have been using smartphones and tablets for years now. While the usefulness of tablets is more apparent in certain areas than others, security concerns are something that all businesses have to address. For the most part you have three different types of tablets; Ipads, android, and windows. Most Windows tablets today run the Windows 8 operating system and can be configured fairly easily, with built in security tools, to be almost as secure as a laptop. Ipads and android tablets typically require apps to be bought and configured for added security (Harrison, 2013). To address this concern, some companies are producing enterprise tablets that are more easily configured and secured (Gray, 2014).
As someone who has an Ipad and loves it, I can definitely see the appeal of the tablet vs. lugging around a laptop with me everywhere. They are lighter, typically have much longer battery life, require no peripheral devices, and you can take them just about anywhere. From a security stand point though they are a definite risk. Since they are smaller they are more easily stolen. Unless a company has security blocks in place (harder on tablets) users run a risk of security breaches through multimedia usage.
The many issues with tablets leads me to the following conclusions:

• NO PERSONAL TABLETS!
• If companies are going to allow tablets, they should provide them per-configured with security blocks and settings already in place. 
• A firmly established and clearly defined policy for tablet usage should be in place and provided for all staff that use tablets.
• If properly handled tablets can be an amazing and productive addition to any enterprise, especially in IT.

Tablets are great. I love mine and use it more than my laptop by a fair margin at this point, but I also realize that it is a device easily abused or stolen and that makes it a risk to any company. It just has to be decided whether the potential gain is worth the risk.



Harrison, Laird. (2013, October 13). 9 Ways to Secure Tablets in the Enterprise. Tech Page One. Retrieved from http://techpageone.dell.com/technology/9-ways-secure-tablets-enterprise/#.Uwv9xhzNsdU

Viswanathan, Priya. (2013, December 20). Are Tablets Secure Enough for Using in Enterprise? About.com. Retrieved from http://mobiledevices.about.com/od/additionalresources/f/Are-Tablets-Secure-Enough-for-Using-in-Enterprise.htm

Gray, Patrick. (2014, January 7). The Dell Venue 8 Pro: The Windows tablet we've been waiting for? Techrepublic. Retrieved from http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tablets-in-the-enterprise/the-dell-venue-8-pro-the-windows-tablet-weve-been-waiting-for/

Week 4

Social media has become so much a part of our daily lives, we often don't even think about how it has impacted the way in which we do business today. Not only are employees using Facebook or Tumbler, but companies are also using these and Twitter to market to the public and observe their employees.
Every company that I have any real interest in has a Twitter account and most have Facebook pages. They post announcements, coupons, run contests and so much more.Schools, businesses and government offices now use Twitter to announce closings. News stations tell you to follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook to receive up-to-the-minute coverage. These social media sites have taken on this massive role in our lives and we don't think twice about it.
Several companies I have dealt with now make it a standard hiring policy to check out their prospective employees on Facebook and Twitter. They realize that when interviewing for a job everyone is putting their best foot forward, but they tend to let their hair down for social media sites. Also, it isn't uncommon to hear stories about individuals getting fired over social media posts that got back to their employer.

Week 3

Graphics cards have come so far over the last decade. They used to be just an afterthought. Another component you needed, but no more important than any other. Back then RAM was king and everyone wanted more.
Now, things are significantly changed.
Graphics cards are the main attraction in many computers and can make or break a computer's sales. Graphics cards are mini-computers with their own RAM, processors (called GPUs), multiple fans and more. This is of course reflected in the price. It isn't uncommon for the video card in a gaming PC to be the most expensive piece of hardware. That is the driving force behind this massive growth in the importance of video cards in computers, PC gaming; and gamers love their graphics cards. In fact, many gamers will have multiple video cards in their gaming computers that work together to exceed one alone or use multiple screens. It seems to be a self-sustaining cycle; as the games get more realistic the cards improve and as the cards improve developers push the graphics to be even better.
What's funny is the average PC user doesn't even need a graphics card anymore. Many motherboards come with basic video graphics built in that are more than sufficient to go online or process everyday user needs.

Week 2

This week I want to talk about CPUs. Being the "brain" of the computer, nearly all processes go through this amazing little computer chip. Thus it stands to reason that the faster the better; however this whole obsession with CPU cores has exploded since I last built a computer.
CPU cores are actually just smaller CPUs, often on the same chip, that work together to share the processing tasks of a computer. This is called multitasking. By having more cores share the burden of all the different apps and tasks that people do on computers today, you drastically improve performance and reduce wear on one individual chip. Unfortunately, since CPUs are normally the hottest part of a computer, this also means more heat which has to be dealt with through heat sinks or other cooling devices.
Like I said faster is great, but most people and most software don't need the sheer computing power of higher end CPUs. Looking through sites like Newegg and TigerDirect, quad-core processors seem to be the standard for home PCs these days; but there seems to be a push for more movement towards eight-core processors.
I see the need for more processors in a system such as high-end servers and supercomputers since those machines are hosting possibly millions of unique guests. For instance, back in November of 2013 Amazon built a supercomputer that included 26,496 cores hitting around 500 teraflop/s and still is only the 64th fastest supercomputer in the world. (Brodkin, 2013)
It just seems comparable to buying a Lamborghini in an area where you'll never be able to take it above 70; a true waste.

Bodkin, John. (November 18, 2013) Amazon puts 26,496 CPU cores together, builds a Top 100 supercomputer. Retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/amazon-built-one-of-the-worlds-fastest-supercomputers-in-its-cloud/

Week 1

I recently discovered that my laptop stinks. It works fine for day-to-day use such as internet browsing or word processing, but is insufficient to play some of the games I have have supported on Kickstarter. Thus, I am faced with the dilemma or whether to build a new computer or wait and purchase a Steam box when they come out. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, so I decided to price out the parts I would need to build a modest gaming PC to see what it would take and how much it would cost.
In doing so, I was introduced to the newest parts and components for computers. Many I have heard about in classes and in computer magazines, but others I somehow missed. It has been several years since I built my own computer and for my blog I want to discuss some of the technology that is on the market that I found interesting.
First, I would like to look at hard drives. All I have really dealt with are hard disk drives with their spinning platters and strange tendency to crash and die when most inconvenient. These have come a long way and are standard now, and relatively cheap compared to ten years ago. There are now two new drives available though for computers. There are solid state drives and hybrid hard drives.
Solid state drives use flash memory, similar to the more familiar usb drives, to save data. They are faster, tougher, smaller, way (way) more expensive that traditional hard drives. I had heard of these before and they started as primarily laptop hard drives, since they can be much smaller than hard disk drives.
Hybrid disk drives blend the two technologies to try and give the speed of the solid state but the ease of use, not to mention the ease to your wallet. Hybrids have traditional platters for long term storage but use a small amount of flash memory to speed things up that you do often.
After looking at all the points, I'm fairly certain that I would go with the hybrid hard drive if I build my own computer. With the benefits you gain from adding that small amount of flash memory and the price tied into the familiar platter hard drive it's hard to beat. Sure there are apparently some issues with the hard drive learning what programs or data to assign to the flash memory (Chiappetta, 2013), but that wouldn't take long to sort out and it seems to be the good compromise between the old and the new.

Sources

Chiappetta, M. (2013, January 17). SSDs vs. hard drives vs. hybrids: Which storage tech is right for you?. PCWorld. Retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025402/ssds-vs-hard-drives-vs-hybrids-which-storage-tech-is-right-for-you-.html

Domingo, J. S. (2013, May 20). SSD vs HDD: What's the Difference?. PC Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404258,00.asp

My Background in IT

My name is Brian and I work in a library. I have been doing this for almost 14 years and during that time I have had many different responsibilities, one of which has always been handling computer issues. Whether it was patrons or staff, if there is a computer problem or question I am the first one they call. A few years ago I decided if that was going to be the case, I might as well take some classes on the subject so that I was better prepared. My classes have been a bit sporadic and interspersed with huge changes in my job, family health scares, and a really uncertain economy. I am looking to finish my degree in the next year and will be glad to move on the the next step.