New Bank Technology

While reading over the current events on CNN.com I came across an interesting article. The article explains how some banks are going to be allowing customers to deposit checks from home using a scan of the check. This was very interesting to me, and my first thought, especially after reading The Cuckoo’s Egg (see previous post), was about the security of it. I would imagine that it will be very difficult to distinguish a bad check from a good one when you are looking at a scan. The article does mention that each bank will put in their own fraud protection for the service, as to what that entails, they are not clear. I think that it will be very interesting to see where and when this becomes available to everyone, and I hope that it works to benefit customers, and not screw up bank accounts.

The Cuckoo's Egg

I read the book The Cuckoo’s Egg, by Cliff Stoll. I had never read anything like this book before but it caught my attention right away. I think that one of the neat things about the book was the style in which the book was written. This is a true story about Cliff Stoll and the experience he had of tracking a hacker through a whole country and eventually around the world, but the characters are developed so well that they seem fictional. The book is written just like a story, but all the events that take place in it are true. While reading the book, I kept thinking about how amazing it is that we have come so far in our networking technology and the internet, however, we still use a lot of the same things that were used at the time of the events in the book. These events took place in 1986 when the internet was still new to the world, but things like dial up modems that were used to connect then are still used in some houses today. I also really got the understanding of how much can be done, good and bad, because of the internet. This hacker was able to use many different phone lines around the world to connect to a main computer at Berkley University which made him very difficult to trace. He was traced eventually back to Germany where he was caught and arrested. As I thought of all the different computers that he was able to access it made me realize what a great resource we really have in the internet and networking. If used properly, and not like this hacker, we really can connect and enjoy the whole world right at our finger tips. In the book we watch the hacker connect to hundreds of different computers, and access their information. It is amazing to think that anyone now can do the same thing. So, overall I guess what I am trying to say is, the computer and the internet are amazing things, but amazing things can be used in bad ways, but when used for good we can gain a great deal of insight to the world. I really enjoyed the book and I recommend it if you are interested in the computer world.

New Mexico and Video Games

I recently heard about a tax in New Mexico that is being put on people who play video games. I decided to look it up and found that it was true. New Mexico has decided to put a tax on video game equipment and televisions of 1% to help fund outdoor activities because they view the excessive use of this equipment as harmful. I cannot believe that people actually think this is fair to the people of the video game world. Although I am someone who does not play video games that often, I can even see that this is unfair. I understand if the state of New Mexico thinks that they need more money in their outdoor activities account and they need to find a way to do it, but singling out a select group who probably do not want anything to do with outdoor activities is wrong. You would never see a tax put on someone who buys a basketball that goes to support video game production, so why would it even be considered to go the other way. I feel that the issue with kids playing too many video games stems from the home and the government does not need to get involved. If a child has no interest in sports or outdoor life, then the parent is responsible to provide another way for the child to get exercise. It seems like the solution the government is proposing isn’t solving the supposed problem. They generalized a stereotype of the typical video-gamer to the whole state and are now making every citizen of the state pay even though they may be active, healthy, contributing members of society who happen to play games.

Data Collection

I can recall some of the many different ways we stored data in past. The first way data was stored was in books. Even hundreds of years ago they stored information in books, for example the Bible. It is more amazing to see how far we have come in the last little while. I can remember books but it is hard for me to remember back to the time when we would store typed up documents on a floppy disk, whether it was an 8, 5 ¼, or a 3 ½ inch disk. They were smaller than books, but either way, they didn’t store much information. Then the CD came into the picture where we could store thousands of pages of information on one tiny little disk. After the CD came DVDs and we’ve moved even further to Blu-ray disks and HD-DVDs which can store more information on one disk than could fit in millions of books. I just think it is incredible what a difference technology has made in the way and the amount of information we can store.

Communication Now!

Again, I am choosing to talk about technology and the way it has impacted our world. I recently read some articles produced by my church explaining the different ways technology has changed our church. The thing that really caught my attention was just the way that communication has changed so drastically. We went from a world where everyone would get information by word of mouth, to the printed word, to radio, to television, and now to the internet. It is amazing to see the changes in communication and how great it is that we can have information in front of us at any moment. Whether it is just the weather, or a late breaking story that Heath Ledger died, the thing is that we can get this information quickly and easily. As for my church, this way of communication has become a great resource and makes it easy for people in different corners of the world to know what the leaders of the church are saying. Sometimes, especially when I think back to how things were before, I think that we just take for granted that we are able to know anything quickly because we have had such great technology for most of our recent lives. It really has had an impact on every aspect of our communication.

Style In Writing

In writing this blog I feel it is very important that the thoughts that I put into it are clear. I recently read the book The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. This book has really helped me to understand more fully the importance of having clear and well organized thoughts before you begin to write. I do not believe that you can produce a well written piece of work if you do not think about it first and know what you are going to say. Also through reading the book I have gained a better understanding of the importance of style as you write. Style, in my opinion, is something that comes naturally and expresses your feelings and moods in a way that the reader can see throughout your writing. I hope that as I continue this blog I will be able to express my opinions and views on things well enough that everyone can enjoy reading as well as understand how I feel.

Technology: A World of Money?

As someone who enjoys technology and playing with all the new gadgets that come on the market, I am fascinated with any advances to the field. We live in a world filled with people who are always looking to the future, asking what will come next? How can we make electronics smaller and faster? Well, for the people who figure it out first, there is a lot of money to be made. I recently read an article about one of these men who has figured it out. Most people know him as Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computers. Steve is still trying to make things smaller and faster and Apple has just announced one of their newest products the MacBook Air. Now, I do not want to ramble about how great the MacBook Air is, but rather note that in this article it states that Steve Jobs, who continues to make huge technological advances, has only been taking an annual salary of $1.00 since 1997, thus making it possible to give the rest of the people in his company big bonuses. I know he is still a billionaire so it might seem like a small loss but think about the money he could have been making if he was taking a full cut. I think that it is really amazing to see that there are still people in this world of technology who realize that it is not all about the money. So, what I am trying to say is, way to go Steve for being a great person, even if most of that extra money just went to the other top people in the company.