A Haiku for You

Apple verse PC

The eternal conflict roars

Leopard eats Ballmer

They should make an App for that

I was probably 7 years old when my parents first took me to the Church History Library in Salt Lake. As my mother unwrapped my scarf, I saw an entire floor of old ladies shuffling across the velvet carpet to and from computer terminals. I was fascinated that through those machines, these sweet grandmas could find information about their ancestors and start their temple work. 5 years later, at one of my first Young Men’s activities, we did family history work ourselves on PCs the ward owned and housed. I was excited to finally do what those little ladies were doing, and thought the fact that we could do the work from our own church building was incredible. Earlier this year I signed up for the new FamilySearch website, and have begun the work again on my laptop while in the comfort of my PJ’s. As we take advantage of these advances in technology, we can with greater ease bless the lives of the loved ones who have gone before us.

Hello there, what's your guild?

I am glad for my disabilities. I had a stroke when I was born that left my right hand permanently impaired. Even so, when I was young I was virtually addicted to video games. I gamed until they became complicated enough that I could not use my left hand exclusively and still win. I gave up video games, but have continued to watch with interest the computing and video gaming world. I now realize how trapped I could have become. If I were addicted to single-player and non-immersive games, MMORPGs would have been the death of me. I have seen firsthand the destruction MMOPRGs can have on the family structure. I knew a coworker whose husband quit his job to play World of Warcraft when they were already both working and struggling to provide for their growing family. I have seen roommates miss important church meeting because they had not finished their game in time. I have seen addictions to video games evolve to addictions of things much more harmful than gaming itself. The threat is growing, and the damage is real. We all need to be careful.

We are more than an IP address

One of the most alluring entrapments the Internet provides is its ability to make our curious inquiries anonymous. We can search for anything, or be anyone without apparent damage to the integrity of our own external identity. I believe we need to consider more than our public reputation when surfing the Internet. We need to take into account the residual effect that malicious content leaves on our minds and hearts. The brain is an amazing memory bank, and almost all experiences we have, including the ones our nameless selves participate in leave an imprint, for better or for worse. We owe it to ourselves, our friends and family, and most of all to our God, who knows our eternal identity, to steer clear of the scarifying influence that dangerous material on the Internet can inflict on our souls.

The Coming Storm...

I decided to borrow the audio-book version of “The World is Flat” from the library and rip it onto my iPhone while I had it checked out. It allowed me to listen to the book easily as I walked to school, ran to and from classes, and while sitting in the sea of students during lunch. At first it seemed like a great idea to use my down time to complete a long homework assignment. Chapter two simply discussed the 10 forces that have flattened the world. Shocker. Similarly, the concept of the triple convergence was a yawner, especially from a contemporary 2009 viewpoint. However, when I got to “The Untouchables” and “The Right Stuff” I became a little uneasy. Friedman was beginning to address the issues and problems of the very institution I was walking through. His comments about our sense of entitlement as America’s youth played out in front of my eyes as I listened to students in my classes complain about the difficulty of their projects and assignments. As I continued to listen to the audio-book, I somehow missed the end of chapter seven and went on to “The Quiet Crisis”. This chapter sounded the alarm regarding the shortage of engineering majors in US universities and placed my fears about our deficiencies into panic mode. During the breaks from listening to this grim future, I would overhear my friends talk about the latest celebrity gossip or what parties they were planning for Friday night. Several times it took all the restraint I had not to exclaim “What are you guys doing?! Don’t you know that we don’t have time for fun and games anymore? We are going to be outsourced if we don’t get our act together!” After finishing the book my heart rate walking around campus has decreased about 50 bpm, but I still think we have a lot to do. America can no longer lay claim to worldwide manifest destiny, and the only way we will be successful is through taking advantage of the opportunities that are afforded us while we still can.

Open-Source

The open-source movement puzzles me. Software development is an engineering discipline that is unlike any other that has come to pass, and because of its uniqueness, the amount and ease of collaboration is unsurpassed. This was known. However, when Linus Torvalds unleashed the collaborative paradigm of open-source, the feature that makes software development so attractive was finally and fully exploited. The idea that an industry-grade software package could be spawned from the scurryings of several thousands of unpaid developers was absurd, and in many minds (particularly Microsoft’s) is still ludicrous. But there is hard evidence, and it is knocking on the private sector’s door with increasing steadiness. Certainly testing and bug-fixing is a huge benefactor of this new process, but it remains to be seen if the open-source community can flex its innovative muscles to prove that it doesn’t need the deep pockets that Apple’s and Microsoft’s R&D departments have to create something entirely new. I will be keeping tabs on Source-Forge…

Steve the Seer

It takes a lot of guts to go against the grain. Humans naturally have a tendancy to stick with established methods of communication because that is what is comfortable to them. With the introdction of their new iMac line a couple of weeks ago, Apple introduced their new "Magic Mouse", which takes advantage of the hand gesturing technology introduced by the iPhone. It has not gotten wonderful reviews, but my guess is part of the reason why it has received poor reviews is because of it is in uncharted territory. Nothing like this product has every been attempted before. No one knows how to use the mouse, and unfamiliarity breeds confusion, an unwelcome feeling for any magazine editor. Apple has often introduced products that have gotten a lukewarm reception from the public, but since Steve Jobs is such a visionary, he is opening everyone's eyes a little wider, and we just have to get used to the brightness of the future.

Fans like Freebies

P2P users may be music industry's best friend after all

Music is like a crossword puzzle. Each word discovery sweetens the addiction and reveals more possibilities. Because of the Internet and P2P networks, my tastes have matured from Elton John and Genesis to the likes of The Aquabats and Lagwagon today. I was able to taste-test almost everything under the musical sun. I spent almost every weekend my junior and senior year of high school in a sweaty venue in Seattle, losing my voice and several hundred brain cells for 12 bucks a pop. My school shopping consisted of attending a concert and checking out their merchandise. After my mission I bought back almost every mp3 I had downloaded and deleted the rest. My love affair with music has continued though, and my interests continue to expand. I buy an album almost every other week and go to concerts almost every month. I still school shop at concerts. I am a fierce evangelist for several of my favorite bands, and have introduced many people to the bands I listen to. My life has been enriched for good, and I owe it all to Shawn Fanning. And Al Gore.

Women in the Sciences

My mother graduated in CS from BYU in 1984. The field was still relatively young, and I understand it was very math-oriented. I believe computer science has since created its own ecosystem of basic concepts and has strayed from the mathiness it once possessed. If this field were to embrace its mathematical roots, there could be a surge of female math majors investigating this discipline. The long hours spent alone coding on a computer which are required to be successful may be another reason why women are discouraged from this major. My mom met my dad (also a CS major) early in her track, and they spent a great amount of time together doing projects. I also know a girl in my ward last year who is now in the major, and she will only sign up for CS classes with another girl she knows in the major. Classes like CS 240 and 345 unfortunately are light on the social aspect of an education, and can deter naturally social people from the dark lonely confines of the first floor of the TMCB.

The New Experts

I headed over to microsoft.com this morning to see what ornate festivities Microsoft might be throwing for the launch of Windows 7. I was met, however, with an interesting surprise. Instead of a slick Silverlight movie extolling the virtues of Microsoft's new crown jewels, they had scoured the Twitter-sphere looking for positive tweets about Windows 7. These 140-character reviews were on full display, each hitting on a different aspect of the new OS. Social media has definitely changed the way computer companies do business. A few years ago, a launch like this would surely consist of industry experts sharing their lofty opinions about Windows 7, using proof by authority to demonstrate that Windows 7 is a superior product. Now the consumer has the power, and trust is placed in the common man to confirm the usefulness of Windows 7 to the next common man. Proof by quantity. I hope it's better. Windows 7 as well.

Good Luck

Security experts are facing a progressively uphill battle against hackers and users alike.

The Internet is becoming more pervasive in the lives of the average person, and as cloud computing becomes a more accepted paradigm, the number and severity of potential security holes becomes a greater problem. Internet services offer a greater amount of functionality every day, tempting users to upload increasingly sensitive documents, in turn tempting the online hacking community to work harder to get at the information. As more users upload information, the amount of information a hacker can pilfer increases as well, further enticing a hacker.

The number and values of online assets are increasing because of an ever growing online community. The task to educate concerning Internet security is a huge task, especially with online newcomers emerging every day both young and old. The common mantra is to vary your passwords between sites and to change monthly or semi-monthly. I worked at software company providing solutions for small banks for almost two years. They ran a tight ship, and required a password change every 6 weeks. At first my passwords were clever, imaginative and difficult. However, I remember after about the fifth password switch, I would change as little as possible in an effort to simply remember what the password was. By the eighth or ninth switch I was routinely calling security asking them to reset my password (prompting another level in the memory game). It was frustrating and very anti user-friendly, cultivating a bad relationship between myself and the network personnel.

Unfortunately, the hacker community is always one step ahead. Even if security experts are to evolve their processes, there is no doubt the criminal community will immediately begin their work to exploit the new systems. The Internet allows the international community to personally knock on your door, and since many of these visitors have no other life than to pick at your locks, security experts are more hard-pressed to provide iron-clad solutions. Thus begins a tight-rope walk between usability and security. Only time will tell if a solution will ever be developed that can satisfy both ends of the spectrum.

It's a boy! Now what will his username be?

Snow Leopard Guest Accounts Wiping Computers

The accelerating progress of technology is dizzying. In 50 years we have gone from mainframe computers in the back rooms of large universities and corporations to Twitter updates in the bathroom. Our user account name and password comes to mind as quickly as our favorite color or movie, and in almost every sense the information it safeguards defines us more clearly. Our reliance on computers as part of our identity casts an increasingly large burden on the designers and engineers who implement these systems to include robustness and redundancy as leading features. In this digital age that continues to emerge, we can no longer afford to bet a portion of our identity to faulty systems.

The Cycle Repeats...

Every year it's the same thing. The Stake has set a goal to index a certain number of names by the end of Winter Semester. Stake leaders enthusiastically encourage members to board the bandwagon, through special Family Home Evenings, firesides, Sunday School lessons and the like. People are called to committees to convince their fellow comrades and countrymen to participate. After three months nothing much has changed. Upon being asked when the last time Molly M. or Peter P. logged on to fulfill their weekly pledge, they respond with an evasive, "Are we still doing that...?" As divine providence grants us increasing ease of connecting with our ancestors, we increasingly fill our schedules with IMing and Facebook pokings. How about we look up the relationship status of our Great Grandfather for a change?

Pseudo Privacy

The World Wide Web can sometimes be just that, a web. It certainly can capture us at our best, but unfortunately, our more forgettable moments seem to be even more sticky. In the age of Facebook and Twitter, what we say and do can be instantly available for the world to consume. However, text snippets, sound bites, and online photo albums only allow a glimpse into our complex lives. Without the context of these bits and pieces of our lives, swift judgments can fly, only to get tied up in today's social networking world. Not only do we need to hold judgment when we surf the web, but we also need to be more aware of what we say and do, because you never know who will be watching.

Obama gets hard lesson on talking to press

The Misinformation of the Sages

I still remember the day I discovered Google could count. I was in the Math lab at BYU and realized I had left my calculator at home. So instead of scrounging around for a piece of scrap paper to figure out what 45 * 6 was, I happily entered the expression in that brilliantly white text box and left Google to do the thinking. Google has become our surrogate brain, simplifying an entire research project into a couple of cleverly-worded search phrases and deciding where we are headed to dinner Friday nights. No doubt Google and the Internet have placed a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips, but I am afraid that our ability to reason and to wonder are at an increasing risk of going bankrupt.