Cisco's Portable Data Centers

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/data_centers/229402621

Recently, Cisco released its new Cisco Containerized Data Center which targets "network customers who need a fast and flexible way to expand, complement, or replace traditional brick and mortar data centers." The idea of these data centers is pretty interesting. They're twenty to forty foot containers that are packed with networking equipment that is easily transported and changed to fit the needs of their customers. They are really innovative pieces of technology, which are each filled with 16 data center racks that can each support 25 KWh of power. In order to keep from overheating, each is equipped with a chilled water cooling system at the bottom of each container. The target customer groups for these new portable data centers are the "government and commercial organizations for rapid deployment of mobile computing, disaster recovery, war zones, and support in remote areas, but they can also be used as a complimentary data center for any organization."
This data center is meant to provide a cheaper, more convenient data storage solution because traditional brick and mortar data centers are expensive to build and take a long time to plan.
I think this is a great idea, and shows the increasing mobility of our world. The data centers are also cheaper and more energy efficient that typical brick and mortar data centers, which is always a plus.

PlayStation Network Hacking

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/sony-idUSN0224988320110503

Last week, Sony announced that there had been a massive hacking of a video game network that led to the theft of 77 million user accounts which included credit card information, direct debit records, and other sensitive personal information. The hacking affected people all over the world - 10,7000 direct debit records were stolen from customers in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. In addition, 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers were stolen. Just recently, Sony revealed that the hackers had the account information of another 25 million users of its PC games system in a second wave of hacking. In total, this amounts to over 100 million accounts being stolen. 

This breach of security really shows the fragility of the entire internet network. The PlayStation network utilizes the internet in letting its video game console owners download games and play against other people over the internet for a fee. The information stored about these people include their names, addresses, emails, birth dates, phone numbers, and credit card information. 

And the vastness of this breach - over 100 million users - shows how other security systems might be hacked and cause chaos. For example, if sites like Google or Amazon were hacked, or worse, online banks, the effects would be unimaginable. We'll wait to see how this one plays out...

Osama bin Laden's Death and the Internet Reaction

http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/05/02/6571255-bin-ladens-death-unites-internet-town-square

I came across this article and thought it was pretty funny. First, as an avid internet user, I've already seen the Facebook statuses - sometimes comical, sometimes solemn. I've seen the funny images showing Obama saying things like "Sorry it took so long to get you a copy of my birth certificate - I was too busy killing Osama bin Laden." Though I don't use Twitter, I can imagine the things being posted there.
In today's day and age, it has become normal for breaking news to not break in news articles or press conferences, but rather on sites like Twitter and Facebook. It's interesting to contemplate if the government could even beat the internet in releasing news...I don't think so.
The article discusses the "internet town square" that was united in the United States around Osama bin Laden's death. From Twitter and Facebook to thousands of personal blogs and even Miley Cyris' music video for "Party in the USA," people all over discussed the death of bin Laden, often joking about it and linking it to other pressing issues of today. The sheer speed at which news spreads online is truly mind-boggling. I don't believe that there was ever a time when information moved as fast as it does today. Pictures are posted and reblogged or tweeted repeatedly exponentially in manner of milliseconds. The fact that the Internet has taken on a role as a sort of "town square" gathering place for all kinds of people is also really intriguing. Sure, it's not really a surprise that it has become that, but with statistics like the 4.1 million page views to news sites around 11:30pm, it's still puts things in perspective - awe-inspiring perspective, that is.

So Much New "Smart" Technology

Are you ready for a smart fridge?

This news article discusses a new 'smart' refrigerator that is Wi-Fi enabled and has an 8-inch touchscreen that provides access to various apps on the front. As the writer notes, it is a huge step up from the magnets, paper, and sticky notes that we're used to adorning the fronts of our refrigerators. The apps that come with the refrigerator include a recipe finder, a weather reporting service, news application, Pandora for music, Picasa for photos, and Google calendar that can keep in sync with smartphones, computers, or other devices that are compatible with Google Calendar. As innovative as it sounds, it's actually not that innovative in reality. There have been "smart" refrigerators that have been conceptualized and created in the past, but have never really caught on in popularity. However, in today's high-tech wireless world that is already used to dozens of apps on all our devices - from phones to televisions to cars - it would not be surprising if this refrigerator also caught on.
It seems like every device that is close to us or central (at all) to our living has been recently outfitted with Wi-Fi and plethoras of applications. It's an interesting trend that I don't see ending anytime soon. Smart phones have become a norm rather than a luxury. Has "smart" technology gone too far in its application to refrigerators? I don't think so. Refrigerators are central to many homes, being an integral part of any modern kitchen. I think that it's a good idea actually - it could shift greater focus to the kitchen as the center of a home. However, at this time, the "smart" refrigerator will probably not catch on because of its steep price tag - at $3,499, the price of the refrigerator will definitely keep the refrigerator out of many homes. In any case, it's a great idea in my opinion and something that I hope will be part of my future kitchen :)

Amazon's Cloud Computing Troubles

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/23/technology/23cloud.html

Just this past Thursday, Amazon's cloud computing service experienced technical difficulties which resulted in many companies that depended on the service to experience outages in their own systems. However, there was a great disparity between what larger firms experienced and what smaller start-up firms experienced in response to the technical difficulties at Amazon. While larger, more able, firms were able to invest larger sums of money on backup and recovery services provided by Amazon, smaller firms who did not have as extensive backup plans were left feeling the full-blown effects of the outage. For example, firms like Netflix, who have invested a lot in Amazon's "insurance" systems to backup crucial data like "customer movie queues, search tools and the like," smaller companies who were unable or unwilling to fork out the larger investment in increased security faced effects like downed websites and inaccessible data.
The whole experience really exemplifies and calls into the question the speed at which current companies are rushing to back cloud computing. It is certainly a new field, but at the same time, is also growing at an enormous rate, with many big name firms (and huge numbers of small start-ups) utilizing cloud computing services like those offered by Amazon. Is cloud computing safe? Should we trust it? One data center specialist claimed that technical difficulties like the one experienced by Amazon are analogous to airplane crashes - while they are certainly catastrophic, the chances of them happening are rare, and air travel is still statistically much safer than automobile travel. Thus, though crashes like this may happen with big cloud computing firms like Amazon, the chances of significant damage are less than the chances of firms keeping track of their own individual data centers.

Match.com and the Sex Offender Registry

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110418/ap_on_re_us/us_matchcom_sex_offenders;_ylt=AlrkTQ1ojsjWdZKVXHvRkn.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFoNTBlaWExBHBvcwMxMzAEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl90ZWNobm9sb2d5BHNsawNtYXRjaGNvbXRvY2g-

A woman (who remains anonymous) is filing a lawsuit against dating website, match.com, for not protecting her against a sexual predator who assaulted her after meeting her through the site. As a result, match.com is combining with the sex offender registry system to restrict registered sex offenders from joining the dating site. I thought this was a very interesting way of combining different technologies and utilizing information that is available. Match.com and dating sites like it have revolutionized dating and how people meet. I'm not sure of the actual percentage, but I do know that a formidable percentage of couples nowadays meet online. In the same way that dating moved online, so did the method in which the public was notified of dangerous sex offenders in their communities. Through Megan's Law, the Wetterling Act, and the PROTECT amendment to the Wetterling Act, sex offenders were required to register in state registries that eventually went online. It seems strange that these two new innovations - online dating and online sex offender registries - are collaborating together to provide a safer dating service, but I think that it's a positive step to take that is innovative and certainly keeping up with the way our world is changing more and more into an online one.
In any case, I thought it was interesting and a good idea that other dating websites i'm sure will also pick up on.

iPads For Kindergarteners

One school district in Auburn, Maine has recently decided to provide all its kindergarteners with a brand new iPad 2 starting next year. The school district is a rather small one - with only six elementary schools to cater to. However, the decision will still cost the school system about $200,000 each year.
Now those are the technicalities of it, but what is the true practicality of giving 5-year olds $500 high-tech tablets? Perhaps its a bit of jealousy that 5-year olds will receive for free such a highly coveted piece of machinery, but I have some serious doubts about how useful the tablets will be for the kids and how long they would even last in the hands of a 5-year old. Also, after doing some more reading about the school district, I found that the school system is having some budgetary restraints. In that case, is $200,000 really best spent on iPads for kindergarteners? I agree that the technology could prove to be useful to the education of these kids, but I also see no problem with the current system of using note cards, colorful signs, black boards, and books to teach young kids, so to me, it seems like an unjustified investment. Sure a shiny new iPad for every 5-year old sounds great, but is it really necessary? I don't think so.

Google Books - What's going on with it now?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/business/media/24google.html?src=busln

Google books has been in the works for seven years now. And during these seven years, Google's huge endeavor to scan millions of books and create a free online library for the public, has undergone much opposition, mainly from publishers and authors of these works that have been planned to become public. In the most recent development, in a case between the U.S. Authors Guild and Google, Judge Denny Chin has ruled against Google, leaving Google with the decision on how to proceed from here. There has been discussion that Google may push for the passing of an Orphan Law which would allow published works whose copyrights are unclaimed to be published online for general public viewing. There has also been other talk of reforming the laws regarding the current copyright system to better reflect the growing digital age we are currently in. I think that this is a great idea - while the old system and its laws might have worked well for physical records, books, and other works, it is a system that simply cannot be applied to today's world of online downloads, torrents, file transfers, and the various other technologies that are coming out almost daily. I think that Congress really should look into a better way to manage copyrights and piracy issues, even if it means making new legislation or changing around entirely how things are currently done.

Social Networking Tools Come to the Rescue Following Japan Earthquake

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8379101/Japan-earthquake-how-Twitter-and-Facebook-helped.html

Following the disastrous 8.9 scale earthquake just off the coast of Japan, widespread destruction took over Japan as huge waves hit the Japanese coast and shook the island nation. Because mobile networks were unable to deal with the the influx in cell phone use and land lines failed as a direct result of the earthquake, many resorted to broadband networks and online tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Skype communicate with loved ones and the public about what was going on. These serviced proved to be invaluable to those who could not reach the people they needed to contact through typical means like the telephone. In fact, these networking tools even became the primary means of communication people used in Japan following the earthquake. In one common example, a girl at an international school was able to use Facebook chat to contact her cousin in Great Britain during the earthquake, but could not phone her parents who lived a short distance from her school. Technology today really is making the world a smaller place.
Even governmental agencies used Twitter to post emergency information concerning telephone numbers to call and safety shelters to go to for aid.
In ways that were probably never even imagine during the creation of these networking tools, they are helping society in its most neediest times.

IRS Impersonators During Tax Time

http://www.standard.net/topics/scams/2011/03/06/beware-those-who-impersonate-irs-tax-time

The article discusses the problem of how people have been recently impersonating the Internal Revenue Service in emails and phone calls to individuals requesting personal and sensitive information. The fact that this is occurring just goes to show how easy to access people's information really is. Personal emails, phone numbers, and addresses must be easy to find online which would lead scammers to take advantage of them to contact unsuspecting individuals. The internet is obviously very useful, but there is also a huge cost to our privacy in using it. There are so many ways to be tricked or scammed, and this is just one more way.
Most of these impersonators are from other countries and are taking advantage of the U.S. government system. Something really needs to be done about this, but it is hard to find a simple solution to this widespread problem of internet privacy.

Facebook App that Encourages Break-Ups

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/25/6134104-horrible-facebook-app-breaks-up-relationships

In today's age of online social networks, dating, and life in general, it's hardly surprising to learn that technology has once again crossed the line in its involvement in our lives. But even with everything I've heard of and seen, this new application by Facebook is still very shocking to me. This new Facebook app called "WaitingRoom" allows its users to let their love interests know that they are waiting for them to become available and leave messages for them. In order for the said love interest to find out who's been leaving them messages, they must change their relationship status on Facebook to "Single" for at least 48 hours.
The app uses natural human curiosity to fuel the service, but it also has the potential to break apart relationships and get outside intruders involved in relationships like never before. I think that in this case, the app has taken things too far. Sure, it may be somewhat fun and a good idea, but in the long term, it is exploiting natural curiosity and causing trouble for established couples.

How One School District Is Keeping Kids From Cutting Class

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/19/california-school-district-uses-gps-students-cutting-class/

Currently there is a new program in place in the Anaheim Union High School District that will hopefully reduce the number of unexcused absences in the school district. Seventh and eighth graders that have had four or more unexcused absences will be given a hand-held GPS device that will track the students' location 5 times a day - the time the depart for school, the time they arrive at school, lunch time, depart from school, and at 8:00pm. The students are required to punch in a code at each of these specified times which will in turn transmit data on the location of the student at the time the code was punched in.
I think this is a fantastic way of using technology to help with a societal problem - in this case, the troubling and chronic absences of students from school in this particular district. Of course, it come with a cost, and in this case a high one. The cost of the pilot program alone is about $18,000 and if it proves to be effective, the program will be spread to other school districts as well. It is hard to say whether it is worth the cost. It is well-known that California has had budget problems...is it worth reaching deeper into their pockets to help ensure kids go to school?

Global data storage calculated at 295 exabytes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12419672


The news article reports on the amazing amount of data that is stored in the world...it's such a huge amount that the article uses all sorts of images to help illustrate just how much data there is, which really help and make the number (295 exabytes) that much more digestible. 


295 exabytes is equal to about 1.2 billion average-sized hard drives and if the data were stored in books, the books would cover a country the size of the United States or China in 13 layers of books. 


Another note, who's even heard of an exabyte? The word exabyte itself still comes up as needing to be spell-checked. But an exabyte is a real thing and is equal to one billion bytes. Definitely hard to fathom. 


Interestingly enough, the article still makes sure to mention that in terms of the nature, our own information processing and storage capacities are much greater and much more compact than any that technology has created. "The Human DNA in one single body can store around 300 times more information than we store in all our technological devices" according to one doctor cited in the article. 


Obviously we are making huge bounds forward in terms of technological advancement, but I still think it's important to remember that we are not gods as a result of our humanly creations...in fact there's so much more contained in just one person.