Tuesday, May 06, 2014

Blog Post: Robots and Google Glass

In the video about Google Glass. It shows how convenient the Google glass is. You can use it for basically everything like your smartphone! You can use if for picture taking, video recording, checking out information about your flight, see what is the temperature now outdoor and etc. And you, only yourself can see whatever you're doing now (taking pictures, sending messages etc). Imagine if everybody has a Google glass, isn't that a little bit too much? Just like what the video mentioned; one of the bar has a sign of "Google Glass free" outside on the wall. The owner says that, this is place where people come to chill, forget about their work, pressures, etc., and watch some games on TV with some drinks. So if Google glass are allowed in the bar, there will be no privacy to the people that came to chill at the end of the day; so it is not always good to have technology that's too high, it can cause both convenient and inconvenient.


For the other video is about Robots taking over our human world! Compared now from the past, the technology has developed a lot that I think human beings are just really smart! In the video it shows a robot and a man; The man did some actions while the robot was learning how to do it. So after the robot learned how to do it, it eventually did the same action as the man! The robot just learned in seconds, a pretty fast learner. The robots could work really well and organize according to how its made, so there might not be a big chance of mistakes making in the process of working in either factory, restaurants or other places. People are now pretty scared that the robots will take over humans' world one day. In my opinion, I think that is true because, robots are really fast as well. And once the robot is made (even though it might cost a lot) but after that cost of money, you don't have to spend money like how they pay workers' salary. Basically, robots are way better than human. But then what will human do? Lost their jobs?

robots
Major Concepts:
-In the first video is basically talking about Google Glass and how convenient it is to use it since you can use it just like a smart phone but instead of swiping screen using your hands and fingers, you just need to wear the glasses, and order the glasses what to do.
-In the second video it is basically talking about Robot taking over our world whether it is going to happen or not in the future since the robots has lesser chance to make mistakes and are smarter than human (they can learn something in one second!) Will the people lost their jobs?

Advantages and Disadvantages:
-The good thing about Google glass is that is VERY convenient and high-So looking! but the bad thing is that, the screen is so near your eyes that your eyes might feel tired and also, other people might not feel comfortable around you since you can take a picture of them anytime you want without they noticing.
-The good thing about Robots is that, it is very high-technology. It proves that, humans are very smart that they can create such a creature to help make everything easier for our life. But the bad thing is that, people might lost their jobs since the factories prefer using the smart robots. And also, people will be depending too much on robot that they become dumb.

Question:
-What will people do if robot DOES really take over the WORLD!? Are we all really going to lost our jobs?

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Blog Post: HeartBleed



What is it?
-Heart bleed is a bug of Open SSL which could allow someone to get the web server's memory such as passwords from your account! Open SSL was originally for making accounts secure. This bug can be found in famous websites as well such as Facebook, Google accounts etc.

How did it happened?
-As we know about Open SSL, which is famous of  websites that include a log in feature; so basically it is safe and secure for our accounts. And in the Open SSL has a feature called "heartbeats" which is a "call and response" action ; when you access to a web server, it will respond to your request. However, the issue of the bug heart-bleed is that, the hackers could request "beyond" the web to the web's "memory", this allows them to see your log in pass-codes, web cookies and other data.

Who got effected?
-People that are going on internet, logging in to their accounts with their passwords got effected; this is almost everyone in the world. Just imagine Facebook, how many friends of yours have gotten their Facebook account online to socialize with their friends? Also in educational case, you might need an account such as Gmail, or even online bank accounts!

What was the damage?
-The damage is that, the hackers would do anything to the account in however way they want to. For example, a hacker would damage your reputation by saying something bad using your account being a "fake you". The worst could be online bank accounts! The damage would be basically losing all your money since the hacker know your pass-codes already.

How to prevent it or recover from it?
-To prevent from this bug to happen to your account as well, you should definitely think about changing your passwords recently, probably once a month. Keep on changing passwords will be hard for hackers to hack your account since they can't log in anymore with your old passwords.

What did you learn from it?
-I learned that, it is not about strong passwords such as super long passwords, because once they've got into the web's memory and see all those data that they shouldn't have been seen, they could still get into your accounts! So it is better to change your passwords recently; and make sure not all your log in required accounts has the same password too!

Citations:
Griffin, Ben. "What is Heartbleed and how do I make myself safe?" Digital Spy. 29 Apr. 2014 <http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/feature/a565757/what-is-heartbleed-and-how-do-i-make-myself-safe.html#~oCbmepDl5aOehG>.

"What Is Heartbleed And How Does It Affect Me? :: YummyMummyClub.ca." What Is Heartbleed And How Does It Affect Me? :: YummyMummyClub.ca. 29 Apr. 2014 <http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/blogs/christella-morris-tech-this-out/20140417/what-is-heartbleed-and-how-does-it-affect-me>.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/heartbleed-bug-article-1.1751982v
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/12/heartbleed-explained/?ncid=rss_truncated
https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/PayPal-Forward/OpenSSL-Heartbleed-Bug-PayPal-Account-Holders-are-Secure/ba-p/797568#



Monday, April 07, 2014

Blog Post: 11 Google search tips!


There are a lot of information that can be found just by Google it. Even though there are a lot of information, it is still a bit hard to find the 'exact' information that we are looking for. You won't know if its accurate or it is the one that you are expecting to get. Sometimes you just want to ask a simple question, but Google would just give many pages for you to find it out yourself, isn't that too much to handle? Here is 11 tips that everyone should know when they are trying to research for the 'exact' information that they are looking for.

First tip --> You should Find new stories:


Sometimes, you want to find information that had been revealed long time ago, but sometimes you want to get the latest piece of information, and if you just type in your question or keywords that you are going to search for, it will show out all the results from long time ago till the latest therefore it is hard to recognize whether this piece of information is new or old. Google now has this tool called Search Tool; you can choose the date range, either from custom or from Google itself, this made it a lot easier for you when it comes to researching.

Second tip --> You should search for a specific phrase:
To search for the exact information that you want to search without getting other "related" information, it is better to put a double quote for the exact thing you want to search for. Example: "H&M", from putting double quotes, you will get to search only the information about "H&M" not "H" , "&",  or "M". 

Third tip --> You should Search a Specific site:
For searching specific site, you can add "site:" and then add the site address TOGETHER with the specific key word that you want to find from that site by adding the word with double quote, you will eventually find what you want ti find quicker and easier. 

Fourth tip --> You should Eliminate a term from search results:


You can eliminate a term by adding a "minus" mark in front of the term or the keyword that you are searching. Basically you don't want that word to appear.

Fifth tip --> You should use image to search:


Do you ever have hard time trying to find something without knowing their names? Google allows you to simple drag a picture of yours that you saved, into the searching bar. It will automatically find similar pictures for you and see if you could get the name of that picture from the results.

Sixth tip --> Searching for local results:
Normally, your search engine know already about your location unless you didn't turn it on. If you didn't turn it on, you can add a zip code to the end of your search to find the information in that area; or you can select your location under the Search Tool.

Seventh tip --> Searching for the appropriate contents for children:


Sometimes it is hard to find information when you are looking for university-level texts for your research paper, or easy and simple understandable texts for children. If the citations about your research report is too simple, the teacher might not accept it; if the texts for children are too hard that they couldn't understand, it is hard to find again with all the results that Google provide. So here's the tip which is to turn on the reading Level. When that is being turned on; basic, intermediate, and advance will be sorted for you. Other than that, you can also turn on the Safe Search so that you won't find something that is not appropriate while searching.


Eighth tip --> Finding apps for your smartphones and tablets!


This might be the most useful tip since everyone nowadays are really into their smart devices. For this tip, you are able to search some games that you want to play without knowing the exact name but just some keywords. When you type it in, click on more tabs and find "APP", then you will be able to find the related apps, you can even check if its free or not.

Ninth tip --> Finding a product:


This tip will be a great tip for ladies that likes to shopping but doesn't know which specific site to go search for. Easy tip! Google the product's name or category and then click on Shopping. You can choose the color of that product you are searching, and even the price range for example, minimum **** price to maximum **** price.

Tenth tip --> Solve a math problem:
This is what I used pretty much sometimes when I'm lazy to get a calculator. Basically you can just type in those simple math that you want to solve such as "1  + 1 ".


Last tip! --> Get immediate results:
Basically, you can just enter something that would give you result immediately. For example, if you want to search a word's meaning, you don't need to go dictionary.com or search "what does xxx mean". All you need is to type in the word, or if the word is too wide to search its definition, just add "define" before the word, it'll show the definition immediately.

Major Concepts:
This whole article is talking about searching tips that we can use in Google to make our-self easier when it comes to researching something. With these tips, we can save our time, we don't need to look over those information that is unnecessary to our research. These tips made our live easier and made our research more organize as well!!

Disadvantages and Advantages:
Advantages are that, it is way faster and easier for us, especially students, when it comes to the time that we have to do a serious research paper with accurate contents (dates etc). But the bad thing is that, if we used too much of Google Tool, we might end up not using other resources since it saves much more time, such as physical copy of books. Even though it might take longer time to find in the library, but the books there are always accurate and are trust-able.

Question:
But does much of the people use Google tool?

Citation:
"11 Google Search Tips Everyone Should Know | TIME." Time. Time. 07 Apr. 2014 <http://time.com/39291/11-google-search-tips-everyone-should-know/>.




Sunday, February 16, 2014

Chapter 8 Outline

8.1 What is Abstract Data Type?
·       Abstract data type (ADT):
o   ADT is a container whose properties (data & operations) are specified independently of any particular implementation.
o   We know their properties and operations and we understand which types of values they can contain, but we have no information about their internal structure or implementation.
(
u know what it Is, what it means, but don’t need to see the implementation of it [no need to know how]) Example:
§  Gmail (object)
§  Sign In/Create account (Operations)
§  User no need to look at the details, just do it.
o   The basic idea is that the implementation of these operations is written ONCE in the program, and any other part of the program that needs to perform an operation on the ADT can do so by calling the appropriate function.
o   The goal in design is to reduce complexity thru abstraction.
o   To put concept of ADT into context, we need to look at how we view data.
§  3 Perspectives of viewing data in computing: (How much level u want the user to see it)
w  Application Level (user): The view of data w/thin a particular problem.
(
Don’t have to look at anything else, just look at particular problem)
w  Logical Level (Abstract): Abstract view of the data values and the operations that manipulate them.
(Object has behavior) **work w/ differ classes**
w  Implementation Level: The specific representation of the structure that holds the data items and coding of the operations in a programming language.
(
You see codes) **Fixing messy codes etc**
§  These 3 views concerned with Data Structures – the implementation of a composite data field in an abstract data type.
w  It is the way of storing the data in a manner so that we can access those data easily at later time.
(
Stack, Queue, List, Tree)
§  The ADT are containers which data items are stored and each exhibits specific behaviors these are Containers because their sole purpose is to hold other objects.
w  ContainersObjects whose role is to hold and manipulate others.
(
variable, data[], SUM)
o   Logical Implementations:
o   2 logical implementations of containers:
§  Array-Based Implementation – Objects in the container are kept in an array.
§  Link-Based Implementation – Objects in the container are not kept physically together, but each item tells you where to go to get the next one in structure.
(Don’t have to put them together, not need to be together can jump and come back)

·       8.2 Stacks
o   Stack is an abstract composite structure in which accesses are made at only one end.
§  LIFO – Last In First Out    eg: Carts in  the Mall
§  Insert – Push
§  Delete – Pop
·       8.3 Queues
o   Queues are an abstract structure in which items are entered at one and removed from the other end. 
§  FIFO – First In First Out   eg: Drinks sell @7-11
§  Insert – Enqueue/Enq/Enter/Insert
§  Delete – Dequeue/Deque/Deq/Delete/Remove
·       8.4 Lists
o   List is like a container of items.
o   The items are:
§  Homogeneous, Linear, Have vary lengths
o   Logical operations be applied:
§  Add item
§  Remove item
§  Get next item
§  More items
o   Array – Built-In Structure & List – Abstract Structure.
o   A list may be visualized as a Link Structure, this is based on the concept of node
o   Node consist 2 pieces of info: User’s data & a link/pointer that indicates where to find the next node.
§  Link StructureAn implementation of a container where the items are stored together with information on where the next item can be found. 
(
Stack and Queue)
o   If the list is an unsorted list, the items will be printed in the order in which they are inserted.
o   If the list is sorted, the items will be printed in sorted order.
o   Stacks, Queues and Lists are LINEAR in nature (items are next to each other) only one relationship is being modeled.



·       8.5 Trees
o   Hierarchical structures, each node in the tree can have more than two children.
o   Binary Trees :
§  An abstract structure in which each node is capable of having 2 successor nodes called children, and so on (tree its branching structure)
§  Beginning of the tree is a unique starting node called root.
w  Binary TreesAn abstract composite structure OR A linked container w/ a unique starting node called the root, in which each node is capable of having two child nodes and in which a unique path exists from the root to every other node.                            
w  Root The unique starting node in a tree. (1 is the root)

                       

§  A tree node that has no children is Leaf.  (7,8,9,10 are leaf nodes)
§  Every node has a unique (single) parent.      
(2 = left subtree & 3 = right subtree of 1)
§  Any node in the tree can considered the root node of a subtree. (subtree whose root node 2 also includes the node 4 & 7)

o   Binary Search Tree :
§  It is like a sorted list in that there is a semantic ordering in the nodes.
§  A binary tree (shape property) that has the (semantic) property that characterizes the values in a node of a tree:
w  (bigger go right, lesser go left)

o   Build Binary Tree :  Bigger go right, lesser go left




o   Other Operations
§  Binary search tree is an object with the same functionality as a LIST.

·       8.6 Graphs
o   A graph is made up of sets of nodes called vertices and sets of lines called edges (arcs) that connect the nodes.
o   The vertices (dots) in the graph represent objects; the edges (lines) describe relationships among the vertices (dots).
§  Graph – A data structure that consists of a set of nodes and a set of edges that relate the nodes to each other.
§  Vertex – A node in a graph
§  Edge (arc) – A pair of vertices representing a connection between two nodes in a graph.
o   Undirected graph – A graph in which the edges have no direction. (可來回)
§ 

Two vertices that are connected by one edge – Adjacent Vertices


o   Directed graph (digraph) – A graph in which each edge is directed from one vertex to another (or the same) vertex.
§  Path – A sequence of vertices that connects two nodes in a graph.
o   LISTS, STACKS, QUEUES, TREES – All just holding containers.
§  Stacks return the item that has been in the stack the least amount of time.
§  Queue returns the item that has been in the queue the longest amount of time.
§  List & Trees return the info that is requested.
§  Graph has algorithm defined upon it that actually solve classic problems.



o   Graph Algorithms
§  Depth-First Search – Given a starting vertex and an ending vertex, we can develop an algorithm that finds a path from startVertex to endVertex.
w  It is called Depth First search because we start at a given vertex and go to the deepest branch and explore as far down one path before taking alternative choices earlier branches.
§  Breadth-First Search
§  Single-Source Shortest-Path Search

·       8.7 Subprograms
o   How we pass info back and forth btw algorithms and sub-algorithms.
o   We call them subprograms rather than sub-algorithms.
o   Subprograms are available as part of high-level language.
o   Parameter Passing
o   A parameter list is a list of the identifiers or values with which the subprograms is to work.
§  Parameter List – A mechanism for communicating between two parts of a program.
§  Parameters – The identifiers listed in parentheses beside the subprogram name; sometimes called formal parameters.
§  Arguments – The identifiers listed in parentheses on the subprogram call; sometimes called actual parameters.
o   Value and Reference Parameters
o   2 ways of passing parameters:
§  Value Parameter – A parameter that expects a copy of its argument to be passed by the calling unit (put on msg board).
(The calling unit gives a copy of the argument to subprogram)
§  Reference Parameter – A parameter that expects the address of its argument to be passed by the calling unit (put on msg board).
(The calling unit gives the address of the argument to subprogram)


Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Ethical Issue: Open-Source Softwares

Thoughtful Questions:

1) There are several common examples of open-source software that many people use in their everyday lives. Can you name any?

- Linux : Operating System
- Google Chrome OS : Lightweight operating system based around the web browser.
- Android smart-phone operating system. 
These are all familiar names that we ever heard.  They are pretty common.

2) Do you believe that the quality of an open-source software product is likely to be higher or lower than the quality of software produced by a large corporation? How do you think technical support for open-source software compares to that for proprietary software?

-I believed that, the quality of an open-source software product is likely to be lower than than the quality of software produced by a large corporation. Because, the reason why the "original" product is being sell out on the market with some expensive price (software such Microsoft Office) it might cost something thousands; is because that, programmer actually spent a lot of time writing the codes and making this product up. And it is not just one person, its a large professional corporation that made it together. And because it is professional and it is good enough to sell it with price, that software and its quality must be good enough and worth to buy. So by looking at this we can imagine the quality of the open-source software product, it wouldn't be too good. First of all, people could edit it and make changes with the coding from the original, but how do you know that the person that is giving you this free software that he or she just made changes is just a good programmer or not? And since they know that it is not as good as the original that's made by a large corporation, they then feel ok to give out people for free. 

3) Daniel Bricklin, biography appears in Chapter 12, did not patent (or copyright) his software, believing that software should not be proprietary. As a result, he lost a great deal of money in the form of possible royalties. Do you consider his actions to be visionary or naive?

-I think is naive, because he didn't copyright his software and didn't think of the consequences of believing that the software should not be proprietary which is losing a great deal of money. He could have at least have an idea of believing that the software should not be proprietary BUT it is ok for others to have only IF they copyright the software to the owner. 

4) The Free Software Foundation is a tax-exempt charity that raises funds for work on the GNU Project. GNU software is free. Go to the Web and read about its philosophy. Compare GNU products with those of manufacturers such as Microsoft and Sun

-Obviously it is different already when you see the name. GNU is a free software foundation that raises funds for work on the GNU project but Microsoft software needed to be paid in order to have the software and they are not made for funds like GNU software. 

5) If you were to continue with computing and become a programmer, which side of the argument would you take: Should software be copy-righted or should it be free?

- I would take soft wear be copy-righted. Because the reason why a software is sell it with price is because it worth that price. Imagine an engineer sitting in font of the computer, typing codes again and again, input as many possible values as possible (basically testing) and they ended up giving out the codings for nothing. In the person who actually "write the codes"'s view, I would just say no, they need to copyright my softwares and my work that I've done for long time. But in a general people's point of view. Sometimes when a software is not free, I wouldn't want to go actually buy them, I will just download it. But in this question is talking about "become a programmer" so my answer is "it should be copy-right". 

Monday, February 03, 2014

Blog Post: My Winter Holiday

This is a Prezi about my Winter Holiday! It contains the things that I'd done during the holiday. It was nothing much, mostly I just stayed home or go to my aunty's house. But of course, I did something fun at home such as watching dramas, animes with myself or with my family together! My sister and I always watch movies, chit chat, or eat the whole night; night time is our world! we watched many movies at night together. And so we sleep in the morning till early in the afternoon mostly (which is not good). Anyways, other than having fun at night and spend time at aunty's house, my family and I also went for a 3 days trip at HuaHin for welcoming the Year of 2014 ! (for more information,have a look at my Prezi below).After I've done my Prezi about my new year, I realized that, Time flies so quickly!


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Blog Post: Startups steal the show 2014


Nowadays we have higher technology than what we used to have before, people are creating more and more convenient products to world such as some smart devices like smart phones, tablets and etc. Other than those devices, there are also a lot more new little products that are really good to use for example. When we are hot, we wanted a fan but we are lazy to fan our-self, so we buy this small electrical fan to make our-self cool; its easy to use, easy to carry out. Or if we want to give our straight hair some curls, we can use iron curler, wait till it get hot and then curl our hair! before we might need hair curler and curl our hair piece by piece in order to get a perfect curl of hair etc. There a A LOT more new products that doesn't exist before that we have it now in which made our life way more convenient.

And in this article I'll be mentioning about the new and cool products that came up 2014 in the International Consumer Electronics Show. The first product is a small simple and cute looking device that has a cube shape components. We can play around with it by joining more cubes together since there's a small circle magnets attach to the cubes that enables many cubes join together and become one. It included a modular robotic concept called Moss. We can build different styles of robots however we want.



The next product in the show is this cute doll "Teddy the Guardian". It is really convenient because as what we know, kids are really afraid of doctors and going to hospitals, but now they created this little bear with its palm being inserted a pulse oximiter. This can measure blood pressure, heart rate, and it can send all these information of smart phone. They can also give information to babies about pulse.



Next, this product is call the "Kolibree" smart toothbrush. This toothbrush can inform the person who is brushing their teeth about whether they are brushing their teeth in a correct way or not, in this, we are able to brush our teeth more clean.

Next, this product is also a kind of product that suits a lot of people which is call the "Mother". The reason why its called "Mother" is because its function or its job is just like a mother. It has a accelerator-based, motion-tracking fitness concept in this wireless device with Bluetooth. It can sense the motions for whatever such as reminding you to take medicine, tell you to drink more water etc.



Next, this product is call Panano. It is like a small ball, about a size of your palm. It is covered with lenses all over that you can throw in the air and it can capture a 72-megapixel, 360-degree, great quality image. It's so cool that the cost of it is a little bit expensive.


iBlazrNext, as we know that we can use our LED flash next to the camera on our smart phones now as flashlights. There's this product call iBlazr in which you use it by plugging it on your earphone jack. Even though this flashlight is connect to your phone, it has its own internal battery, so when you charge it with USB cable, it'll allow the light to double as a keyboard light! Another light product is called ZeroHour. The reason why it caught our eye is because its water, impact, and bomb proof. Sounds pretty cool.

Tablo

Next product is a device that includes Nuvyyos Tablo and a dual-tuner DVR which makes pushing over-the-air TV to all our mobile devices easily. Basically its "air" feature is impressive, other than the air TV to all our mobile devices, AirTame which is a wireless adapter for Mac and PC is also good. AirTame worked by connecting the HDMI while running an app, you can then stream wireless video quickly. Another device that is computer-related is called the FINSix laptop power adapter. Since people are always traveling around, Mac created "Air" which is a lighter products for travelers, FINSix laptop power adapter has 65 watts, pretty much enough for a Mac to work. This can be work as a charger.

Main Concept:
As year goes by, there are more and more new interesting products coming up in the market. Just like what it's been mentioned in this article: The robot that you can create however you want it to be by attaching them together at the joint that has magnets; The little cute Teddy bear that has a main function which is to measure blood pressure, heart rate, etc. This grabs kid's attention and eventually, parents can check out kids' body health by using this bear instead of going to the hospital since this bear could connect to a smartphone and tell everything about the person who's holding the bear's palm. There are more new products mentioned in this article, basically it is all new and convenient and products that includes "smart" ideas.

Advantage & Disadvantage:
The good thing about these is that, they are really convenient and they are very smart. With these products, we can live our life easily. But the bad thing is that, these "smart" products are never going to be cheap. Because since its so smart, it must have inserted with  a lot of coding and expensive exponents combined together to create it, of course the price will be a bit higher. And since its a bit higher, people won't be thinking to actually buy them.

Question:
What will happen if the world doesn't have these kind of convenient products anymore? Will robot take over us in the future?

Citation:
 "CES 2014: Startups steal the show." CNET. 20 Jan. 2014 <http://ces.cnet.com/8301-35301_1-57617051/ces-2014-startups-steal-the-show/>.