With the Rise of the Technology Age, emerges a new type of crime that no person or organization is safe from; Hackers. Everybody knows that hackers are out there with skills that can infiltrate the most secure internet sites. But the truth is, most people, with their busy schedules and tiresome lifestyles, do not care to pay much attention to the issue until they wake up one morning, check their online bank account statement, and notice that they have no more money in their funds. Most hacking, though, occurs against organizations confidential customer credit card information and are extorted. So the big question is, what can be done to fight against this type of criminal activity? Why is it that there are no major hackers on the nightly news being sent to jail? The truth is, hackers are more skilled in the business of computers and cyber-infrastructure than any law official specialists wil ever be. Some may even call it a world-class business. The tracks of a hacker can be covered up in a way where no trace can be found by a security system. The secret is speed and termination of the log files that are tagged onto their access to the websites. Cyber-crimes are always going to occurr, but the Government, local and federal, should know that the only way to fight fire is with fire. Employing skilled hacker teams would seem pretty weird since those are the type of people that they're trying to catch.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Future Laptops: Pentops?
NEC Design, Ltd. have created a new innovation of where portable PC's may go in the future. At the moment, a prototype of the product, in the shape of a simple-looking pen, is being tested in the NEC Design labs and was estimated to cost about $30,000 to develop. The device includes a virtual projection of a screen interface and a virtual keyboard (not solid) that the user interacts with. It is a new type of technology that NEC Design calls "Pen-style Personal Networking Gadget Package." Projection keyboards are offered by other companies such as Virtual Devices and Lumio. This new emerging technology is just a peek at what kinds of future innovations can arise from what we are accustomed to.
Some concerns a designer may have while developing would be the durability against all types of damages a regular pen may encounter. It is extremely expensive to develop, it should be able to survive being crushed, dropped, bent, and immersed in liquids, without being completely damaged. But the concept of having the size of a pen as your personal PC is pretty much the most innovative at the moment. It literally puts networking and customization right at your fingertips, just as laptops were for desktops.
Some concerns a designer may have while developing would be the durability against all types of damages a regular pen may encounter. It is extremely expensive to develop, it should be able to survive being crushed, dropped, bent, and immersed in liquids, without being completely damaged. But the concept of having the size of a pen as your personal PC is pretty much the most innovative at the moment. It literally puts networking and customization right at your fingertips, just as laptops were for desktops.
Wikipedia being Sued by German Politican?
Wikipedia Germany had files charged against the site by a deputy leader of the Left Party, Katina Schubert, for the argument that the site contains too much Nazi Symbolism that has a particular focus towards the Hitler Youth Movement .
It is illegal to use any Nazi symbolism or imagery in Germany, except for the basis of educational purposes. Schubert argues that it is not an issue of restricting any freedom of speech, it is the issue of understanding what the limits are regarding to illegal contents. Despite the suit being filed against Wikipedia Germany, the comments were denied by the site. The situation brings back a familiar event of China and it's Google Problem in which China had banned particular topics and keyword searches that the country had deemed illegal to speak/learn about.
It is said that some neo-Nazis are conspiring against Wikipedia for the their version of portrayal of Nazi Symbolism. That is probably one main reason why Schubert filed suit against Wikipedia Germany.
Some may say though, that if the site clearly has no bias with the information that it hosts, that the problem lays with how the people use the information. Yet, on the other hand, one can argue that hosting a site that explains how to create a bomb--without bias--can truly have devastating affects to any society.
It is illegal to use any Nazi symbolism or imagery in Germany, except for the basis of educational purposes. Schubert argues that it is not an issue of restricting any freedom of speech, it is the issue of understanding what the limits are regarding to illegal contents. Despite the suit being filed against Wikipedia Germany, the comments were denied by the site. The situation brings back a familiar event of China and it's Google Problem in which China had banned particular topics and keyword searches that the country had deemed illegal to speak/learn about.
It is said that some neo-Nazis are conspiring against Wikipedia for the their version of portrayal of Nazi Symbolism. That is probably one main reason why Schubert filed suit against Wikipedia Germany.
Some may say though, that if the site clearly has no bias with the information that it hosts, that the problem lays with how the people use the information. Yet, on the other hand, one can argue that hosting a site that explains how to create a bomb--without bias--can truly have devastating affects to any society.
Another Way to view File-Sharing
It's no big mystery to see that file-sharing of music major music artists is very common and that the sharing has an adverse impact upon the total revenue of record sales. There have been many cases against companies that harbor file-sharing via Peer-to-Peer (P2P) connections, the most notable being Napster. Besides all of legalities, what affects would it have upon the artists themselves? As a famous and successful Rap artist, 50 Cent made a couple statements about the whole situation. He stated that the millions of fans that listen to his music would not like him any more or less, had his music been heard through a store-purchased record or illegally downloaded via the internet. 50 Cent says that the music industry evolves just as music does. What should be realized is the need for the industry to recognize the changes of the main revenue accrued is shifting from record sales to concerts and merchandise. The downside though, is that although the music is appreciated by his fans, it is harder for a younger audience to understand the whole development of the music artist, which is how they were able to reached the level of fame in the first place.
Although it may seem more of a morally controversial issue, illegally downloading music is just what it is. Yet problematic enough for almost everyone to do right from their home computer or any public internet access gateway. The best thing to do, according to 50 Cent, is to understand how the music industry doesn't have control over all music distribution and maximize all other means of the abilities of the artist to gain revenue.
Although it may seem more of a morally controversial issue, illegally downloading music is just what it is. Yet problematic enough for almost everyone to do right from their home computer or any public internet access gateway. The best thing to do, according to 50 Cent, is to understand how the music industry doesn't have control over all music distribution and maximize all other means of the abilities of the artist to gain revenue.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Terahertz over Gigahertz?
Moore's Law states that technoology will double in speed and be half the price. At the moment, it would be astounding to have a processor that clock in at 10 GHz (1,000,000,000 hertz, so what if you were to hear of the possibility 100 THz (100,000,000,000,000 hertz)? It would be impossible to imagine the capabilities of the integrated circuit. But, it may be well on it's way into our society.
The so-called photonic crystals and quazicrystals are believed to contain characteristics to build ultra-fast optical components which would run the ultra-fast operating engines. The optical communication characteristics promis much more control over the electron flow in semiconductors (tiny transistors that can function in on/off gates that move electric information) by the photonic crystal structure.
The certainty of photonic-crystals circuits and devices looks promising. You may even begin seeing computers with a minimum requirement of 5 or 6 Terahertz creeping dropped on the market. As an optical-fibre network, you can imagine your network cable or computer connection devices to be running photonic-crystal circuits rather than silicon circuits, the creation of valuable, synthetic jewelry, and anti-counterfeit systems on identification/credit cards.
The so-called photonic crystals and quazicrystals are believed to contain characteristics to build ultra-fast optical components which would run the ultra-fast operating engines. The optical communication characteristics promis much more control over the electron flow in semiconductors (tiny transistors that can function in on/off gates that move electric information) by the photonic crystal structure.
The certainty of photonic-crystals circuits and devices looks promising. You may even begin seeing computers with a minimum requirement of 5 or 6 Terahertz creeping dropped on the market. As an optical-fibre network, you can imagine your network cable or computer connection devices to be running photonic-crystal circuits rather than silicon circuits, the creation of valuable, synthetic jewelry, and anti-counterfeit systems on identification/credit cards.
Virus-killing Laser?
During non-vaccinal research and treatment, Kong-Thon Tsen and his son, Shaw-Wei Tsen, a physicist and pathologist at John Hopkins University, have discovered a way to kill a common virus using very low powered lasers.
Ultra-short pulsing lasers (USP's) use very low amounts of energy that even when used on the surface of human skin, would not damage or emit radiation to the living cells. UV rays can harm the cells, as well as the surgical lasers used when removing certain cancers. USP's It can be used on samples of blood which may contain in it different types of viruses, known or unknown. The tranfusion of blood would be much more efficient They are currently working on testing the pulsing lasers on the HIV and Hepatitis viruses.
Raydiance is a USP manufacturer that just signed a deal with the Federal Drug Association this past July, funding research on other treatments using these lasers. The FDA claims that there may be hundreds of uses for this kind of technology just waiting to be discovered. Tsen stated that the laser breaks the protein shell that encases the viruses molecules, leaving behind the now-useless mucus.
Imagining that USP technology can somehow cure a vast number of viruses/bacteria gives a new look into the future of medicine/surgery and the longetivity of human life.
Ultra-short pulsing lasers (USP's) use very low amounts of energy that even when used on the surface of human skin, would not damage or emit radiation to the living cells. UV rays can harm the cells, as well as the surgical lasers used when removing certain cancers. USP's It can be used on samples of blood which may contain in it different types of viruses, known or unknown. The tranfusion of blood would be much more efficient They are currently working on testing the pulsing lasers on the HIV and Hepatitis viruses.
Raydiance is a USP manufacturer that just signed a deal with the Federal Drug Association this past July, funding research on other treatments using these lasers. The FDA claims that there may be hundreds of uses for this kind of technology just waiting to be discovered. Tsen stated that the laser breaks the protein shell that encases the viruses molecules, leaving behind the now-useless mucus.
Imagining that USP technology can somehow cure a vast number of viruses/bacteria gives a new look into the future of medicine/surgery and the longetivity of human life.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Major Lawsuits against File-sharing....Should we be Paranoid?
In these days, file-sharing seems to be as simple as looking and clicking. There are many different sites which enable internet users to share music, picture, video, and application files and programs. But isn't it illegal to share files that are copyrighted as known by the infamous Napster case many years ago? The answer is "Yes," and although there were around 26,000 legal cases from the IRAA, these Digital "Pirates" continue to use programs for downloading bootleg movies, music, and programs. Some sites improvise with some messages stating that "You are not anonymous," "We have you IP Address," and "You will go to jail for sharing." Although these things may happen if caught, it's also an attempt to scare the users so that they would keep sharing at a minimum. In the case this year 2007, Jammie Thomas was fined an outstanding amount of $222,000 for the music she downloaded illegally. And in 2005, Scott McCausland was sent to jail by downloading a movie before it was released. These cases are probably the sacrifice so that the general public would be scared into not sharing.
There would be no possible way to track the thousands, if not millions, of people who share files and throw each and everyone one of them into jail. Time and Technology have funny ways of adapting to the will of our ever-changing society. Or is it the people who have no care in the worl when they hit that download button? Whichever the case may be, It is highly unlikely that people will stop sharing any type of files. Is it even fair for the high cost of the media to be cast upon its customers? Common Sense; why would one pay for something that they don't have to? That's why it's called "sharing," not "stealing."
There would be no possible way to track the thousands, if not millions, of people who share files and throw each and everyone one of them into jail. Time and Technology have funny ways of adapting to the will of our ever-changing society. Or is it the people who have no care in the worl when they hit that download button? Whichever the case may be, It is highly unlikely that people will stop sharing any type of files. Is it even fair for the high cost of the media to be cast upon its customers? Common Sense; why would one pay for something that they don't have to? That's why it's called "sharing," not "stealing."
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