Monday, December 12, 2016

Harvard CS50 Fair

Hey that's pretty good.

We made an ever so exciting trek to Boston last Friday so we could experience the wonders built in C by the Ivy League students. While there wasn't as much fun stuff to acquire from the economically dominating companies that were present at the booths, there were projects to look at, too. The room was filled to the brim with people. And also computers. Jake and I came across a project that was a book swap type deal, where you could list an old text book for sale so someone else could buy it. Another one (which unfortunately didn't work as a well as planned), would input a picture of a face and try to guess what the expression on the face was. It would definitely be worth taking the class again next year. Taking both the AP and Advanced class,  I'm not sure about. I don't see why not tho.

Friday, November 4, 2016

Hacking and Undersea Cables

Trump's good friend Putin may be up to something sinister. Its been reported that Russian Submarines have been creeping near the bottom of the ocean near the international internet fiber optic cables. It could lead to an attack on the US's Internet connection, but would probably lead to more damage worldwide as 7 of the 10 most popular websites worldwide are hosted in the US. Granted, the US also has a west coast, and I wouldn't be surprised if the US's internet traffic could be routed through Mexico and Canada. Its not worth it Vladimir, its simply not worth it.

Hacking is a whole other thing. TBT Christmas 2014, I couldn't play Xbox Live because Lizard Squad a ddos attack on Microsoft and Sony. Hacker's can really screw up a lot of thing. Although (depending on what side of the isle you're on), hackers can expose political corruption from internal governments.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Innovation

My innovation were wireless transmitters. As someone who is using devices which are connected to the Internet all the time, the ability to not be plugged in is very important. Although wireless transmitters have existed for about 100 years now, (@Marconi), almost every device has the ability to transmit information wirelessly now. It's not always perfect though. For one device to be wireless, there has to be another device somewhere that it can reach a signal from. As in, if a satellite isn't over head, or a tower anywhere near, a cellphone won't work to well.

My dad choose handheld devices (smartphone, tablet, etc) as his innovation. As an airline pilot for the past 20+ years, the way his job has changed by the introduction of the Internet is incredible. He used to have to carry around a huge binder with info about every airport and runway, now it has all been crushed down into an app on his company iPad. All of the work he does with the plane can all be found on his iPad. Seeing as most airline pilots are nearing their 60s, the sudden introduction of this technology was tough.

Mobile devices pretty much rely on wireless transmitters to exist and function. Without them, the point of a handle device wouldn't exist. The ability to have the entirety of humanity's knowledge in your pocket exists because the internet can be accessed anywhere. More and more satellites are being sent into space to help spread this even more around the planet.

Friday, May 20, 2016

The Internet: IP Addresses and DNS

1. A protocol is the universally accepted form of communication between all computers.

2. An IP (Internet Protocol) Address is the number that determines the computer's location. It is organized in sub levels down to the home location.

3. IPv4 was designed in the 70's and will only be able to hold 4 billion devices. We're slowly switching over to IPv6, which will be able to hold 340 undecillion (2^128) devices.

4. IP Packet is the data being sent, IP address is where it is received.

5. A DNS  is a Domain Name Server, and it is responsible for directing a computer to the IP of the website that it requested.

6. 131.109.131.10

Thursday, February 11, 2016

The Ti-84 and why its a computer

The big huge Ti-84 hasn't changed prices since the '80s and is in fact a computer. The Ti-84 takes in user input information from the buttons on it and uses it to compute mathematical problems. Less known things about the Ti calculators are that they are programable. Programs to automatically do the quadratic formula up to entire pokemon games can be programmed into the Ti-84. The Ti calculators shows the calculated information on its display screen. The Ti 84's processor is the Zilog Z80.