Article 6 - Comcast's Broadband Usage Cap Won't Hurt My Mom

Comcast put a limit on customer bandwidth usage this week. A lot of average users will be in shock to find that they can’t upload or download as much as they want but most of the limits won’t actually affect the average user. The author states that he should not be paying the same rate as him. He states that his mother checks news and send a few emails during the day but he is constantly online sending large files and download many different types of data. I agree with the author because the current agreements that the companies have are averaged out where everyone is paying the same rate and many users are abusing it but the smaller users have to pay for it.

He states that he uses it for many other things and that his usage is easily a thousand times that of his mother. He states that no reasonable person would say that they need to pay the same price. I agree that it is reasonable to pay for what you use. This way everyone get a fair speed and amount of bandwidth because that is what they paid for. The author also states that he already pays extra for a connection that is faster so if he wanted to distribute multimedia across the globe he could. I agree with the author and actually have the same type of connection because of the type of work I do.

This announcement was the official limiting of usage was today but they have been doing this quietly for a few years with a magical capacity that no one knew. They would let you use it until you reached it and then would cut your service off. I think that this is unfair and that people that need to use a large amount of bandwidth should be able to pick a package and pay for it.

References:
Article Link - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2331596,00.asp

Article 5 - The 10 Most Mysterious Cyber Crimes

The author discusses that a computer hacker is considered the best if he is not able to be caught. He tells us about a list of the most infamous unsolved computer crimes known to the public. There are security breaches happening all the time in the computing world and most of the time in the best cases the offender is captured by the FBI or another law enforcement agency. I think that it is good that the FBI is able to catch most of these offenders but what is scary are the hackers that go unnoticed and commit some sort of breach and are never caught. One such case is the WANK worm which was a 1989 attack on the computers of NASA to protest the use of use using nuclear fuel in one of their rockets.

This attach is said to have cost NASA around a half million dollars to clean. I think that it is a disgrace that someone would do that since all they were able to do was get a small message out which did not change anything and actually took money away that could have been used for research. Another attack that happened was the breach of CD universe by a hacker where he stole 300,000 credit card numbers. He then used these numbers to blackmail the company but they did not want to deal with him. In the end as retribution he posted all the numbers on a website. I think that this type of attack should not happen and that website that do electronic transactions need to protect their data.

One of the worst cases of hacking is on military equipment. A hacker from Germany was able to hack into a military contractor and steal two thirds of the source code for missile and satellite guidance software. This is attack is very bad since it breaches our national security and allows us to vulnerable to hostile countries.

References:
Article Link - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2331225,00.asp

Article 4 - Do-it-yourself PR

The author starts the article off discussing how PR people used to disturb him in previous years but have slowed down recently. He likes the fact that he is not bothered as much but thinks that it also has the disadvantage of smaller products not being noticed. The companies that make these products don’t know how to get the word out about their products. Most modern PR people have few contacts except for a list of bloggers. I think that this is something that needs to be fixed since many smaller products can be great for society and the tech world. There should be an easier channel for these companies to distribute their products that is not of high cost.

Another issue with the PR scene is that a lot of the experienced PR people have used their skills to move up the chain in the corporate world and become executives. Some companies have seen this trend and have started web based seminars that teach PR skills such as PRNewsonline. This site hosts weekly webinars on how to build better relationships with the media. I think this is a great idea that will help many smaller companies push their products out into the world and make them better known. There is a fee but that is expected since they are offering a service to your company. I think many companies will be happy to pay fee to learn how to market their product better.

The author also discusses some of the issues that are covered in the webinar which include things like how to handle sensitive issues during a media interview. The author discusses how some of the issue that they discuss are pertinent to your business and how others are just filler material, but overall these webinars can be beneficial to your business.

References
Aritcle Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330435,00.asp

Article 3 - Apple blocks competitive products from iPhone App Store--surprised?

Apple has gotten into some controversy for blocking programs from competing companies from being published in their app store. Their official response is that they have blocked certain products because they provide duplicate functionality. One example of this is and iPhone podcast client called Podcaster which apple states as having duplicate functionality as the Podcast section of iTunes. The author of the article states that it should not be expected of Apple to include competitive applications in its walled garden. This type of blocking brings into question how a company can call something a platform when it arbitrarily decides to eliminate competition.

I think that the company should not call it an open platform when it decides what programs it will allow to be used freely on it. I think that it is unethical to advertise as such and then after a programming team spends money and effort on a program, they aren’t able to advertise it in the mainstream marketplace. As stated in the article, good developers are afraid to make applications for the iPhone because they feel if they make Apple unhappy, their applications will be done for nothing and their time wasted. What this will create is an environment where high quality applications can not be created.

According to the article this same issue came up when Facebook opened up their platform to outside developers. After applications were developed, they copied them and used them for their own money making opportunities. Many investors that put money up for Facebook applications withdrew their funds and left these groups to die out. I think that this is unfair and should be treated as other intellectual property, where if a company opens up a platform, they can compete with others but can not block competitors from posting their applications. This can be compared to a grocery store opening up their shelves to everyone than copying their products and throwing them out.

References:
Article Link - http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10041187-62.html

Article 2 - Makers hope market ready for ultra-mobile PCs

The author talks about a new device that comes in between the large size of a laptop and the very small size of a smartphone. These devices are referred to as ultra-mobile computers. They are built on the same technology as laptops but are much smaller in size. They offer these features with a screen that is smaller than one on a laptop but much larger than that of a smartphone. I thin this device is a great idea. I find myself many times dreading carrying my laptop to a customer meeting. This way I can carry something that is the size of a book and very light and easily transportable. It has even better connectivity than my laptop because I can access the web through a cellular connection

There are many experts in the technology field that think that such a device will not be successful in the market. It has shown with tests before that people were not looking for such a device. One example the author gives is the Apple Newton, which was released 15 years ago. I feel this is not a good example since the technology that was used in the Newton was not equivalent to what was available in the desktop or laptops of the time. These current ultra portable computers can do everything that a laptop and desktop can do and even access the files that are stored on them through various types of network connections.

There are also many backers of the technology such as Intel who think that there is a mass market for these machines for personal use for things such as entertainment and connecting with friends. I think that this is very true and can even be successful with college students. If these machines have a docking stations with classical keyboard and mouse they can used by students to use their work. In addition, if they have a touch screen that can be written on, students could take them to class to take notes.

References:

Article Link: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_10354930

UMPC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-Mobile_PC

Article 1 - Straightening Out Cloud Computing

The author talks about how he is apprehensive of the proposed cloud computing systems. He thinks that the user will be losing control of how and where their data is stored as well what software they are using. He says that the desktop revolution was about taking personal control of computing and not having to share it with someone else. I agree with the author because we have gone from a state of computing where we had to lease time on large mainframes to be able to make use of them, to having laptops that are light and can be carried around easily with us. I feel that this is a step backwards and will eventually fail or be merged with another technology.

I mention the fact that it might be merged with another technology because it may be useful to have cloud computing for certain things such as photo storage but it is not very useful for word processing, which is better done locally on a desktop or laptop. The author talks about how email on the web is a good part of cloud computing and I agree completely, since our school email is mostly accessed by the students through Outlook Web Access and the little that do access it through their local email software such as Outlook do so using IMAP which keeps the messages on the server as well.

The author also talks about Winzip having an online utility that will take any compressed file and send it to you in familiar ZIP format. I believe this is a very useful piece of cloud computing software because it allows the downloading of many proprietary compressed files without having to download an unknown uncompressing program that might bring harm to our computer. Another technology that is very useful in cloud form is customer relationship management or CRM software because if it is located in a cloud then it can be accessed by all employees and everybody can make changes and additions as they come up.

References:
Article Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329303,00.asp
Guide to cloud computing: http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208700713