Milestone 10 – Virtual Reality and Simulations – Pax Warrior

In Chapter 11 Snyder talks about virtual reality and “the challenge of latency” – or the challenge of speed.  As I think about how far we have come of the last few years I am increasingly impressed with our abilities to overcome the speed problem with virtual reality.

            As a graduate student in the late 1990’s I studied a little about technology and multi-media.  I remember on high scaled presentation where the graduate students all gathered in the auditorium at the business school and some gentleman came along and showed some very basic video and sound from a laptop computer.  There were probably lots of ooos and ahhhh’s but I was not impressed that this was truly multimedia.

            I was convinced that what the world called multimedia was in fact a fraud.  In order for it to truly be multimedia you must have computers that were truly powerful enough to handle true scale video with sound and all a descent rate of speed.  Well I think that we finally began to reach that era in about 2003-2004.  In the last two years our abilities have increased substantially, and we are finally in an era where technologies are converging to produce substantial multimedia and virtual realities.

            A couple of products that point to our abilities:

            1.  Pax Warrior Simulation.  For the first time in my schooling experience I actually had a class assignment to participate in a computer simulation.  The simulation was a decision making tool that put a person through the process of being the UN General in Charge right before the Rwanda Genocide.  It was your responsibility to try to stop the tragedy.  (www.paxwarrior.com).  I found the simulation to be stimulating and a good tool for learning about the events and decisions that occurred in
Rwanda.  I predict in the future that more such tools will be developed for the education field that mix simulation, multimedia and learning.

            2.  PS3.  The PS3 really sets the bar high for multimedia and simulation.  Although the platform is mostly used by gamers, it would be great to see educators and industry use the platform or the performance levels as a tool used for their own learning processes.  It would be great to see such a powerful multimedia device used to train people on emergency first aid, on driving skills, on how to use a voting machine, or on how to use a computer.  Instead of being solely a gaming platform, it should be seen as a multimedia educational opportunity for the world.

            3.  Nvidia 8800 GTX.  The 8800GTX video card does for the computer system what the PS3 did for the gaming center.  It takes much of the video processing away from the computer and processes the data inside the card, allowing for incredible detail in virtual reality, simulations, or video processing.  It currently cost $600, but the costs will drop.  The 8800 GTX turns a computer system into a multimedia powerhouse.  A good review from extremetech.com can be found at www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2053780,00.asp.

Nugget Nine – Using Spreadsheets for Research.

Well this last week it turned out that our classroom lab on spreadsheets actually helped me out in real life.  I had a research project where I needed to analyze polling data.  I paid $95 to gain access to the polling data on the web, but I didn’t want to retype all of the data into Excel.  I tried to copy and then paste the data, but it would not go into the right spaces.  I then used the import technique that we learned in class.  The import from web feature was remarkable good at locating tabular data and importing the data into excel.  Yea for the lab!  It saved me hours worth of typing.

            Once I got the data in I needed to figure out a way to get to of the columns to merge.  Again it would have taken me quite a long time to have joined the data in the columns into one square, but I used a method that was similar to the “Concatenate” function that was demonstrated in class, and whollah…the columns joined into one column.

            I was then able to build a graphical model that shows US public opinion on the War in
Iraq.  The model will help me to research the how public opinion is affected by the revelations of war crimes such as Abu Ghraib and Haditha.  Now if I can only get the computer to write the paper for me J

Nugget 8 – Pathetic Dot Searches Net…Decking Out the IT Geek

 In chapter one of Fluency Snyder does a pretty good job of covering the main components of a computer.  For our FLAG on this Chapter we attempted to show others how easy it is to open a computer and add or subtract parts.

            Outside of class I have begun to consider building a computer of my own.  And so I began to research all of the different parts and technologies to see what kind of system I could build.  I spent about 40 hours worth of research on parts and technologies and the following are the results:

Optimum system built by someone else:

-Alienware.com’s “Area 51 ALX” (click to see specs)

-Starting cost – $6,399

Well I have an angel of a wife, but she would probably banish me to basement if I spent $6000 on a computer.  But I want one, and I figure I can build my own for much less.  It will not be quite as fast, but it will be very close.  My research into parts and systems led me to the following configuration of quality components.

To Buy:

Intel Core 2 Duo – E6600 Processor (2.44 GHZ, can be overclocked to 3.4 GHZ) – $300

EVGA 680i SLI Motherboard (just released) – $250

EVGA 6800 GTX Video Card (just released) – $600

DDR2 800 MHZ Ram (must find on sale) – $200

Antec P190 Case with 1200W PS (release date around 15 Dec) – $400

Sealed Internal Water Cooling kit for overclocking- $250

Recycle (from my current stock of junk):

-2X 400GB and 1X250

-DVD

-Win XP

TOTAL SYSTEM COST: $2,000

Now, in order to get my system to be as fast as the Alienware system, I will need to overclock, but the lower end Core 2 duo chips are unlocked and easy to overclock.  With watercooling I hope to get 3.4-3.6 GHZ out of a $300 chip.  My system will lack a second 6800 GTX videocard, but I don’t really need it and can save $600.  It should only take me a day to put together, and a day to do the software.  By building my own system I will save about $4000.

For those of you who want help, Extremetech.com has some of the best guides for building computers.  On the main webpage there is a tab called Build It which has great guides.

Shopping Guide: 

 

Now where do you go to get all of that good stuff that you really want but can’t afford?  In our class we have recently covered the topics of searching the Net.  We have talked about Google searches and scholarly searches.  However, we really have not talked about how we are going to outfit our new knowledge with the gear to be successful IT’ers. 

I have been doing some shopping this last week trying to find the best in IT gear.  I thought I would share some of the neat places that that present good values to the IT connoisseur

When searching for IT gear it is best to ask 2 questions:

1. What are the best products?
2. Where are the best prices?

1.  The Best Products.  It is almost impossible to know everything about IT products.  Most Geeks must rely on experts who can test products to find out what is the best in terms of quality and reliability.  For Geeks the following places are useful for reviews of the hottest IT products:

• PCWorld.com

• PCMag.com

• Extremepc.com

• Tomshardware.com

• Anandtech.com

• Cnet.com

When visiting these sites note that many have top 10 type lists.  If you want to know what it the best laser-printer go to the top rated products lists.

Also note that Amazon.com also sells many IT products.  They also include customer comments below their products.  Some customers do an excellent job a telling you the truth about how well the IT product performed for them.

2.  The Best Prices.  This last week I was looking at some computer parts.  I am going to build a new computer system for video editing.  Yesterday I went by COMPUSA (the only real place I have found to buy computer componants in
Pittsburgh – Unfortunately no Fry’s Electronics here!).  However the prices I saw in the store were significantly larger than what I found online.

Top Online Search Engines:

1.  Pricegrabber.com

2.  Cnet.com

Top Online IT Stores:

1.  Newegg.com

2.  Buy.com

3.  Amazon.com

4.  Dell.com

5.  PCNation.com

6.  MacMall.com

7.  Tigerdirect.com

Best places to find EXTREME deals

1.  slickdeals.net

2.  techbargains.com

And for all of you thanksgiving shoppers who want to know what the sales will be see:

1.  Blackfridayhome.com

Milestone 8 – Spreadsheets are the Bomb!

I was impressed that Snyder devoted an entire Chapter to Spreadsheets.  I personally feel that spreadsheets are a fundamental skill for any collage student.  In fact I don’t feel that management students should be allowed to graduate without being able to use spreadsheets.  In real life spreadsheets are a vital tool.    

In High School I took lots of different classes, math, English, social studies, biology, chemistry. Etc.  However as I look back on none of these classes was the most important class.  By far, the most important single class I ever took in High School was typing.  Over time I have found that typing is a fundamental skill of communication.  I cannot imagine what I would have done without this skill.

Although not quite as important, I have also found that spreadsheets are also a fundamental skill in most business and non-profit workplaces.  Spreadsheets help us to track anything that can be kept in a list.

Baker, Powell, Lawson, and Foster-Johnson (in the Tuck spreadsheet Engineering Research Project) conducted a “A Survey of Spreadsheet Users.”  The results are interesting.

• Table 1.  Purpose of your spreadsheets
• Maintaining lists (e.g. names and addresses)                  29.5%
• Tracking data (e.g. budgets, sales, inventories)              54.2%
• Analyzing data (e.g. financial, operational)                     90.1%
• Determining trends and making projections                    53.8%
• Evaluating alternatives                                                   55.7%
• Other                                                                           7.5%

From this question it looks like many people are using spreadsheets to fulfill many different needs.  I personally have used spreadsheet for maintaining lists, and tracking data.  Since I have not done much financial work I have done much less work in Data analysis and no work in trends or alternatives.

• Table 3.  Who uses your spreadsheets?
• For my personal use                             11.9%
• Shared with one or two others              48.3%
• Used by a number of people                 29.5%
• Often become permanent assets            10.2%

Just this week I have begun a large scale project with three different sub-organizations involving data of a few hundred people.  I immediately began to put together a spreadsheet of data for our project, so that we could coordinate efforts.  I am concerned however about sharing data since some of the data is considered very confidential.  It looks like very few have significant security policies with spreadsheets:

• Table 13.  Methods of protecting a spreadsheet
• None                            73.4%
• Password protection     14.9%
• Cell protection              15.3%
• Data validation              3.5%
• Other                           3.8%

Snyder does a good initial job of teaching us spreadsheets.  However, going beyond the basics it looks as if most of us need to learn on our own:

• Table 17. Types of training  
• None                                                                            48.2%
• In-house training                                                           32.7%
• Training by external party                                              18.2%
• One basic session is available                                        3.6%
• Several sessions, including advanced topics                   12.7%
• Spreadsheet specialist who assists designers/users         3.0%
• Other                                                                           5.3%

I suggest the following tools for learning spreadsheets:

1.  Use Microsoft Excel’s Help library.  This built in library has a table of contents.  A person could learn excel by simply going through all the areas of the in program help sections. 

2.  Buy a excel book.  Excel 2003 for dummies might be a good choice. 

3.  Learn from a friend.  In my opinion this is probably the best choice. 

Nugget 7 – Sending Large Files – Dropload.com to the Rescue

I am sure that most of us are frustrated at trying to email large files.  This morning I had a PowerPoint presentation in one of my classes.  A classmate sent me his file through the Pitt Emil system and…NADA.  Yes, the system failed to deliver the file with the email.  

 

However this week I discovered a way to send someone large files (up to 100MB) for free.  PC World’s article “A better way to send large E-mail attachments” suggests that we use a service called www.dropload.com (Nov. p 152).

I decided to try out the service.  It took me 1 minute and five seconds to sign up for the service and to verify by email.  It was amazingly easy to sign up and they required very little personal information (name and email).  It then took me about 2-3 minutes to upload a 15 MB file from my USB Drive.  I considered this an excellent time from a USB Drive, I am unsure what the time will be from hard disk.  The email was then sent to the address I designated.  I went to that account and downloaded the file in a mere 35 seconds.

From all directions I am thoroughly impressed with this service.  It is free, easy to use, and fast. 

 

Now there are other file sharing services out there like Kazaa.  However these services require special software and open your system to unknown malicious attacks.  The bargain with Dropload.com is that anyone can send and receive files from any internet connection without special software.    

Milestone 7 – “Shhh, It’s a Secret – Privacy and Digital Security

Normally I am not a big privacy advocate.  In the past I have been supportive of such things as police wiretaps and government surveillance efforts.  I was supportive of the “Patriot Act.”  I believed that the innocent had very little to worry from government surveillance.

            Recently however, I have seen real problems with privacy, not only from the Government, but especially from criminals and overzealous businesses.  Although I am still pro “Patriot Act,” I do believe that our privacy should be protected.

            Garson did an excellent job laying out some good security issues and solutions in Chapter 7.  I particularly enjoyed his discussion of privacy legislation and law.

            I think that one of the reasons that we have such widespread privacy problems is because technology has developed much faster than law.  I have recently seen some examples in the news where technology has invaded privacy.

            This week in the NY Times there was an article about how technology has degraded options on expunging minor criminal records.  www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/us/17expunge.html .  I think that the normal expunging process can be a good step forward for many reformed minor criminals.  However, according to this article, that process is being invalidated by the courts who are selling criminal records.  Since the data cannot be recalled, even if the physical records are later expunged.  The digital record still survives.

            In another example of the privacy problems, Ryan Singel writes an article in PC World called “Where Data Goes, Trouble Follows” (Nov 2006, p 127-129.)  In this article he talks about potential threats to our privacy from our data.  Scenarios include:

1. Email Blackmail.  Electronic photos, love emails, and business data are held for blackmail.
2. Cell Phone Tracking.  Our locations are tracked by the government and businesses.  Businesses use the data to try to sell us things.  Government uses the data to try to track crime.
3. Biometrics.  People can steel biometric data, impersonate us, and drain our bank accounts.

Garson gives some great ideas on how personal privacy can be increased through legislation.  I think that the “OECD Fair Information Practices” list would be a good start for designing a comprehensive
US law on digital security and privacy (see p. 483).  In this legislation I would also include a strong “Opt-in/Opt-out” provisions similar to what might be used in the EU (see p. 486).

I feel that privacy is an important security issue.  I currently receive tons of spam email.  Some of the emails are clear attempts at getting me to divulge information so that criminals can access my finances.  Others are legitimate (although pesky and unwanted) solicitations.  These solicitors probably bought my email address from some corporation that sold it to them.  I believe the US should quickly develop very strong laws that protect our digital information from misuse by government, business, and criminals. 

Nugget 6 – Databases for Free $$$$

This week I was drawn back to Google Scholar to if the collection of scholarly articles had improved.  I was excited to find an article on a subject that I had been researching.  I clicked on the abstract and it was great.  However, when I went to get the full text of the article I was asked to pay $30.00.  What a letdown.  I don’t have $30.00 for every article I need to look at.  

The question then is where can we find good databases of scholarly information that are free or low cost?  The following are a few of the places that I have found in the past that provide free access to fee based resources:

1.  Pitt Library:  I had never used the Pitt Online database resources before our class on the subject.  I was excited to try what I learned at home.  I had some research to do on war crimes and public opinion and the information that I gained came just in time.  

I first conducted the research from my home.  I was impressed by the number of databases available.  I used the tricks that we learned in class and I searched the database by subject area.  I chose the political science database.  I was able to find some of the resources that I needed. 

(For some of the articles however I was not permitted access.  The computer demanded some type of username and password beyond my Pitt account.  I then used another scholarly database to find the articles that I needed.  I think it helps being on campus for some of the database searches.)

2.  Local Schools:  When I was trying to find scholarly information at my home my wife told me we already had database access.  She produced a letter from the local school system that gave us access codes for databases.  If you have kids in school then you might be able to get access through the local school system for some scholarly databases.

3.  Work:  Most large corporations and governmental organizations probably have some type of access to databases.  A few years ago I found out that my branch in the military has a library with access codes for scholarly databases.  I can do research from my house on their databases for free.  (I have not used the system yet, but when I leave the University it will be a great resource to have).

4.  Local Library:  Local library’s will probably allow you research database assess, even from your own home.  What you need to gain access in your library card number.  For example Carnagie Library of
Pittsburgh allows access here:  http://www.carnegielibrary.org/subject/databases.

Milestone 6 – “Searching for Guinea Pig B”

Snyder does a great job taking us through a research topic in chapter 6 “Searching for Guinea Pig B.”  He calls such research “curiosity driven.” 

I think that the web is a great place to satiate our uniquely human appetite for knowledge.  Just this morning a friend asked me what we for research before the internet.  The response is that we had to go the library and go through the extensive process of trying to find books and journal articles.  Snyder points out that “books do have certain advantages:  they are generally authoritative, having been carefully researched, usually well written, and permanent.”  As so perhaps for our in-depth research we must actually cross the magical doors of the library and look at books.

However, the internet is perfect for Snyder’s “curiosity driven research.”  For a person who is looking for breadth of information rather than depth, the internet is perhaps even better than the library. I decided to follows Snyders pattern and to look up a topic and explore to see what I could find.  My topic was a word that I head for the first time this week, thermobaric weapons.  I initiated a Google search and my first hit was the Wikipedia article on the subject.  The article was definitely what Snyder would call a secondary source and should not be considered scholarly, but it was very informative.  I learned that thermobaric weapons are considered non-conventional.  They lack the normal oxidizers that most explosives have, and require the oxygen in the air to help in the explosive process.  Since they don’t have to have the built in oxidizers, then they can weigh less and have more explosive punch.  They kill by using force rather shrapnel and are especially effective on bunkers and caves where they can work around corners. I recognized a term that I had heard of before “Fuel Air Bombs.”  These bomb are perhaps similar the MOAB (Mother of all Bombs) that was to be used in Iraq as part of the “Shock and Awe” campaign.

I then followed Snyders suggestion to see what I could find for a picture of these weapons.  I went to Google images and found more than I bargained for.  As I looked through the pictures, I was surprised and delighted to also find some good explanatory pictures and some good articles.   For example: 

flakmag.com/opinion/thermo.html has not only a good picture of a “Daisy Cutter,” but also a great article on their usage.  news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1854371.stm has a great diagram of the effects of thermobarics on tunnels or caves (see above).

As I continued my search I wanted to learn more about single stage thermobarics, rather than dual stage fuel air bombs.  And so I went back to my search and found out the following:

www.worldaffairsboard.com/archive/index.php/t-4680.html and www.defense-update.com/products/r/rpg.htm had articles on about very small thermobarics.  In fact they are so small that they are used in the front of RPG’s.

As I conducted my research I simply wanted a basic understanding of the subject.  As something else caught my eye I continued my research into other areas.  I enjoyed Snyder concept of “curiosity driven” learning and research.  If my interests turn deeper than I can go on to use more primary sources in my research and turn my interest into more of a scholarly endeavor.  

Nugget5 – Office 2007 Awesome

This last week I got an offer to upgrade my  MS Office 2007 beta to the Office 2007 Refresh Beta Vista friendly version.  The download was 500MB, but I downloaded anyway and here’s why.  Office 2007 is Awesome.  I have used office 2007 Beta for about 4 months now and I have been impressed.  It is somewhat different from the earlier versions of office and requires some time to learn.   

The major difference is in the interface.  This 2007 no longer relies on the basic set of icons on the top of the screen.  Instead 2007 moves to thick tabbed sets of these icons.  There are no longer the same lists of words that you need to know to get to information.

However, the initial learning curve is steep.  I still cannot figure out how to do certain things.  I probably need to take a quick tutorial or buy a book to learn the new interface.

I have mostly used Word and Outlook.  I have spent much less time with Excel and Access.  

Now the main question will be price and availability.  I went to Pitt Computing a few months ago to ask about when they will receive it.  (MS Office is free from Pitt).  It looks however like they will not receive 2007 for many months.  This is too bad.  Although office 2007 is great, I am not willing to pay $500 for it.  

If you want to beta test the almost complete version go here:  http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/getthebeta.mspx

Nugget4 – Digital Governance Wins over Wild West

Many people talk of digital governance, but can we really govern the internet?  Apparently we can according to recent reports about recent ban on internet gambeling by the
US government.  (See PCmag.com article “Internet Gambling Almost Dead”  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2023074,00.asp.

This article demonstrates that the Government can control dangers on the internet.  The internet is not just the Wild West.  It also involves classic forms of profit making and economics.