A Bloodline and Technology

My great-grandfather made a voice recording of himself telling stories about his life. He wasn't alone in doing it. He asked someone to help him with these recordings. I can't remember who he asked, but a woman's voice is on the recordings asking him questions about his life. He probably could have sat and recorded these by himself, but he didn't. He was not afraid to ask for help. Too many people make the excuse that they are afraid of using the computer because they don't know how, and too many people don't do genealogy because they don't know where to start. If that's really the case, and we're not all just being lazy, here is a solution: ask for help. There are plenty of people who know their way around genealogy work, and there are plenty of people who know their way around computers and other technology. They just need to get together and help each other. They should not be afraid of the other's area of expertise. If you push a wrong button on a computer, it is not going to bite you. If you get lost in genealogy, your dead relatives aren't going to come back to haunt you. Imagine the strides we could make if we all weren't so afraid or lazy to ask questions and then get to work.

A Creator's Claim to Original Thought

There are two things I'm not sure about when it comes to copyrights. I'm a little confused about the topic of copyrighting.Why should the copyright date expire? First authors were outliving their copyright dates, and then the dates were changed to a certain date after the author's death. I don't think the date should expire at all. That's just making life complicated. The other thing I am confused about is why movies cannot be altered and resold. The Clean Flicks company got in trouble for altering movies and then reselling them. Books, however, can be altered and resold. What makes them so different?

The Flaming Object and the Recording Device

On February 14th and 15th 2013 a large meteor entered the earth's atmosphere and streaked across the sky in western Russia. There was a compilation of videos posted on YouTube showing the meteor race across the sky and eventually crash in Siberia. You can see the videos at this link:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/video-captures-flaming-object-believed-to-be-meteorite/

Although the actual event is frightening, it is amazing that many people accidentally but easily recorded it. I think it is wonderful that technology has evolved to the point where many people can just pull out a recording device to capture moments in life so easily.This event being captured by many people and later shared with many other people displays how technology can connect people around the world.

The Cyberpunk

Hacking has always stirred up both uneasiness and curiosity in me. The curiosity because it takes a very intelligent and skilled person to be a hacker. I have never hacked anything, but there has always been that side of me that longs to start computer hacking. I think it is because hackers are kind of the movie stars of computer geeks right now. In action films they always have to bring in the hacker to hack into the security system to mess with the security cameras. I also feel uneasy about hacking because it's real and anyone can get hacked and their system can get really messed up. I also feel nervous about hacking because after reading The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll, I'm worried that authority figures are not taking hacking very seriously. I am probably being too paranoid, but I worry that hacking is going to have to get really big and out of control in order for it to be a major concern for authorities.

A Female Key Puncher

I went to my first "Women in Computer Science" club this past Wednesday. I wish I had gone to one earlier in my past school years. I never went because I felt like it was not necessary, and I would not have very much to talk about with the other girls in the program. I should not have assumed so quickly. The girls were kind and fun. I could relate with them. We had conversations that were intellectual, casual, and fun. In addition to attending this club, I read several articles on women and computer science. Several of the articles mentioned that few women study computer science because of their lack of confidence in the subject. I can understand why this is a reason. I started out in the major with very little confidence in myself. If it had not been for supportive friends and family, I may not have made it this far in the program. I only wish that I had searched for women in my field of study with which to relate and study. That would have affected my life more positively in the area of confidence and easiness. If schools pushed that women who were curious about computer science met and got to know the other women in that field, the enrollment in the program might improve. This may not be the major solution to why few women study computer science, but I see it as a possible solution to boosting the confidence of women and letting them know that they are not alone in this major.

A Lighter Laptop

Microsoft is coming out with a new personal computer. It looks like a large tablet with a keyboard that you can attach and detach from the computer. This is extremely exciting. Computers are evolving so quickly. I think of the computers from the 1990s and how bulky and heavy they were. I also remember my first job on tech support at Argonne National Laboratory. I would break a sweat carrying several of those computers from one room to another. Today I can carry a computer with my fingertips. I do not work a lot with computer hardware, so seeing how they are the reducing the size of the hardware so quickly is mesmerizing to me.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324900204578285963270503862.html

The Hand-Held Computer and Your Life

The ever-growing field of technology is, once again, making the average person's life a little more convenient. In the article "Will smartphones soon replace wallets?", it explains that technology companies are developing a new system, so we treat smartphones like a credit card. A new technology system called "near field communication," or NFC is essentially a short-range radio transmission that allows smartphone users to make secure digital payments with their smartphones. I think that these large strides in technology are wonderful, and it means that I won't have to keep track of as many objects now. However, as I learn that more and more things are replaced by apps on a smartphone, I think about how a small computer is becoming the center of many people's lives. One day I was traveling home on the bus, and I looked around at all the passengers. Almost all of them were either staring at their smartphone screens or had earphones, attached to their smartphones, plugged into their ears. It made me think of the humans in the Pixar film WALL-E. They stopped associating with each other. Their computer or television screens became the center of their lives. Like I said before, technology development is wonderful, but this new payment option for smartphones shows that technology is slowly moving into a new area of our lives. How long will it be before there is an app for every little thing in our lives? Please see the link below for the article, "Will smartphones soon replace wallets?" by Mike Wehner.

<http://news.yahoo.com/will-smartphones-soon-replace-wallets---213831840.html>