File Transfer Protocol

File Transfer Protocol is a way of transferring digital information over the internet to a remote server. It allows users to upload files to a server which may by connecting to the internet with an FTP client such as WinSCP or WS_FTP. The server is usually protected by requiring users to enter a user name and password in order to upload files. However, there are some pen source FTP servers which will allow anonymous access but usually only for download purposes. These clients can be found for free on-line, and are pretty lightweight applications which offer simple click and drag operation. Adobe's Dreamweaver also has a built in FTP server which can be used to upload files to a web page.
In order to access an FTP server, you first must know the server's host name. Once this is established you must open the FTP client of your choice. In the case of WS_FTP the wizard prompts you to name the site which you are attempting to contact. This is simply to allow the user to convienintly identify the site(s) which he/she uses regularly. Then it asks what kind of connection you would like to make:FTP, FTP/SSL, FTP Implicit/SSL, or local. I chose FTP, and went to the next step which required me to enter the host name of the server I was trying to contact. After contacting the server, WS_FTP asked for my user name and password. If the server allowed anonymous access one would simply have to enter anonymous into the user name and submit, but if the server is not open to anonymous users, one would have to have a user name and password to legally access the site. Once the username and password have been verified by the server, you are connected to the FTP server.
The WS_FTP interface displays the files on the local computer on the left of the split screen and the folders and files that the user has on the remote server on the right. The user simply has to click and drag files form one to the other to transfer the information. Or the user can employ the green upload/download arrows located in between the local computer files and the FTP server files.
FTP servers can be used by software developers and web sites managers to update programs and webpages from remote locations. FTP allows for faster, more secure transfer of files and data. FTP can move multiple files at one time, and can move larger files faster that through other means.

Second life 2

Second life doesn't let you go back to orientation island once you have entered the actual second life world. I asked a few people for help getting back there, but I just got laughed at. I got called a f@&king newbie and fresh fish. Apparently the people in this online world don't like new people coming to their world. Maybe they could build a fence or employ some tighter border control measures.
I asked a fox guy for help and he told me that going back into orientation island once you have been in the game is not possible. He told me to go to help island and get some free items from the freebee store. The store had a couple free vehicles and I choose one, but could not load it on the game.
I'm not sure if I will ever go back to second life again. It seems like an insider community that one must put a significant amount of time and energy into, something I don't plan to do.

Open Sources

In their interview of Mitchell Baker, Lenny T. Mendonca and Robert Sutton sought to establish what makes an open source model of collaboration successful, and the pros and cons of the model that Mozilla uses on their Firefox web browser. Mozilla uses a network of volunteers for product development decisions, software coding, distribution, and promotion. Firefox is a free product which provides a safe and reliable means to access the Internet. Firefox gets 40% of its code from volunteers and the bulk of its promotion comes from word of mouth from users. The product is not shipped on new computers, and it is not advertised in traditional means. Users spread the message of Firefox to friends, and family. That gives Firefox an inherint credibility that other browsers cannot touch.
Firefox employs 120 people many of whom came from the volunteer base. That gives employees and volunteers a sense of ownership over the browser that traditional employees may not have. Firefox's success comes from an intense discipline when it comes to touching anything that has to do with the code, but also a looseness and flexibility when it comes to localizing a product or building an extension to the product. Firefox depends on its employees and volunteers to have a commitment to providing a free and safe open internet source. They rely on ideas and input form all levels of the company, and the strength of an idea is not based on status within the company, but rather the validity of the idea. It is a centralized command with decentralized input, and free flowing communication among all involved.
In my experience open sources are great. I use Firefox almost exclusively and I hav never had a major problem with it. I also use open source security programs and those have proven to be adequate so far. With software I think open sources can be successful because of the advertising possibilities they present to companies associated with technology and computers. The word of mouth advertising saves money for the open source companies and it provides product information from t a most trusted source.

Air Conditioned Computer Chips

Heat is the enemy of computer processing chips. Scientists at Purdue University are researching a new way to cool down high powered computer chips. They are taking a page out of air conditioners and applying it to super high powered chips used for aerospace and military applications. The typical household computer microprocessor rarely puts out heat in excess of 100 watts per square half inch. They typically use an air fan and a heat sink to dissipate heat The Purdue scientists are working on cooling chips that produce over 1000 watts of heat per square half inch. Issam Mudawar, a mechanical engineering professor at Purdue is leading the research along with two mechanical engineering doctoral students Myung Sung and Jaeseon Lee. Mudawar said, "Basically what we're doing is opening the window of opportunity in terms of heat dissipation, so that chip developers can make more aggressive chips, more demanding chips."

Mudawar's system uses hydrofluorocarbons, basically Freon a liquid used in air conditioners to cool air. The hydrofluorocarbons are piped through minuscule parallel channels in the chips which are covered with a metal plate. Tiny holes called microjets are cut into the metal plate and the hydrofluorocarbons are pumped into the channels to draw heat away from the chips. The heat produced by the chips causes part of the liquid hydrofluorocarbons to vaporize, which adds to the systems ability to cool. After the liquid-vapor combination leaves the chip it enters a cooling loop where it is turned back into a full liquid and returned to the chip to repeat the process.

This process is similar to a household air conditioner which uses compressed Freon to cool a coil which a fan blows air over. The coil cools the air which is fanned into the room. Mudawar's goal is to remove the greatest number of watts to keep the chip below 257 degrees Fahrenheit. As chips become smaller and more powerful there will be an increased need for heat removal in order to avoid a system meltdown.

The research has gained the attention of the Office of Naval Research, which has given the program about $500,000 in funding over the last four years. Mark S. Spector, the ONR's Program Officer for Advanced Naval Power Systems said that the research could be used for future military applications including high-power electronics found in lasers, propulsion and military sensor arrays. Spector said, ""The rapidly increasing use of electronics in military hardware is resulting in unprecedented thermal management needs." The Purdue team is still working the bugs out of the system, but hope to attract the attention of a military contractor.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gvCk-7NUPsLFQ2EtLx0BadVvqxCgD91UTKE80

Second Life

This was my first experience with second life or any kind of simulated world, and I found most of it easy to use. The initial demonstration island helped me with anything that may have posed a challenge. I enjoyed the flying feature, not having to walk or drive everywhere would be nice. I built my avatar as much as I could in the tutorial and tried to get off the island. Once I figured out how to get out of the tutorial I looked for a few spots to explore. I went to Boston Island, and Boston Nightlife but there was no one there.
Hawaii was next, went to the beach but I was a little overdressed. There weren't any people around there either, and it was nothing like the real Oahu. There were just a couple of houses that I couldn't enter. I took advantage of an outdoor bathtub at one house and took a bath with my clothes on.
Next I went to Dublin. Dublin was pretty cool. The Sim-Dublin is based on the real city and it has the Guinness Brewery, Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green, O'Connell Street, and Grafton Street. It also has a few pubs and stores. I found a free tour and gift pack which included a Guinness and a "Blarney Stoned" t-shirt. I went into a pub and immediately saw a woman get knocked out by a man, and two guys grinding on a girl. Good times.
I can see why this virtual world is popular. You can travel to places you may never get to opportunity to see in real life, and interact with the city and the "people" who live there. Its an appealing idea, but one that I don't find personally very interesting. I cannot see myself devoting the time an energy into this game to make it worthwhile. Investing actual money into an online personality and life doesn't seem like something could justify doing. I understand that some people who are into this game actually make money at it, and I applaud them, but I prefer to keep my time and money invested in reality.

Non-lethal weapons

Non-lethal weapons have long been misunderstood by the general public, and by military and political leaders. Some see them as torture devices, others as nothing more than fancy toys that have no practical use. However, as security becomes more of a global issue and conflicts are more often than not unconventional, demand for more non-lethal weapons has risen. The world's conflicts and crisis's can be filmed and that footage can be distributed almost instantaneously. Field commanders are under stricter scrutiny than ever before, and that scrutiny can lead to second guessing. The escalation of force can quickly go from show to shout to shove to shoot, and can make for ugly footage on the nightly news or the web, and can lead to unnecessary deaths of bystanders, perpetrators, or soldiers. Giving field commanders more options especially in the shove to shoot range can prevent casualties on both sides of a conflict or situation. One such non-lethal weapon is the Active Denial System, developed by the Air Force. Detractors call it a death ray, while the Pentagon deems it a viable weapon for crowd control, defense, and anti-sniper applications.
The Active Denial System uses "millimeter wave electromagnetic energy to stop, deter, and turn back and advancing adversary from a relatively long range" according to globalsecurity.org. The system uses 95-GHz millimeter waves which can be pinpointed towards a subject. The waves only penetrate 1/64 but cause an intense burning sensation which ends when the system is turned off, redirected, or the subject moves out of the ray's beam. The beam can heat the skin to 130 degrees Fahrenheit in only two seconds, but the body's natural defense systems compel the subject to move out of the way or turn back in less than a second. The Air Force states that a subject would need to stand in the beam for 250 seconds to be burned by the system. There has been some speculation of injuries or mass slaughter of animals at the hands of this "death ray." Sharon Wienberger at the Danger Room at wired.com sites a former Air Force Office of Special Investigations Officer, Dave Gaubatz, that he "truckloads of animals being brought in in the middle of the night." He claims these animals, including 500 pound cows, were being slaughtered by the ray. Gaubatz also claimed to have found Saddam's WMD bunkers.
The system, while promising, has curiously yet to be cleared for deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan. According to Danger Room's David Hambling at wired.com troops are "...begging for the Active Denial System..." Hambling sites the Defense Science Board's report on why the system has not been deployed to Iraq where it could be used for crowd control and for anti-sniper operations with little or no collateral damage. The report sited an unfavorable political atmosphere after the Abu-Ghraib scandal which would attract intense media attention and scrutiny if the system were to be employed in a detainee operations mission. Also the deployment of the system would require "significant education and awareness for military personnel and the general public to understand." In other words more money would have to be spent on training troops and educating the public on the system. Once again lives lose out to the almighty dollar. The most promising application of the system is in an anti-sniper role. The weapon could be directed into sniper hides, or positions, which would force the sniper to move while not putting innocent bystanders at risk or causing collateral damage to buildings or infrastructure. The Board's report gave no indication of an imminent approval for deployment of the weapon.
On a personal note I have seen this weapon in action and felt its effectiveness. I took part in a non-lethal weapons capability exercise at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base in Hawaii. The exercise demonstrated numerous non-lethal weapons for military high brass and politicians. Among the weapons demonstrated was the Active Denial System. I can tell you that the the system works, and though it is painful, the pain quickly subsides and it had no lasting effects. I also witnessed numerous incidents while deployed where this weapon could have been effective, but the weapon was unavailable.
This weapon can save lives, lives of our troops, of civilian demonstrators, of innocent bystanders, or of rioting detainees. The system can be mounted on a HMMWV, on a ship, on an aircraft, or it can be placed in a static location. It is versatile, effective, and mobile, yet the pentagon and the government refuse to allow its deployment. Perhaps there is something wrong with the system, in some ways I hope there is, because it would hate to think that the government can waste time and money investigating steroids use in baseball or spy-gate, but that it won't spend money on a system that can save the lives of troops, civilians, demonstrators, or detainees.

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The hotly contested and costly war between Sony's Blu-Ray and Sony's HD-DVD featured two technologies that are likely to become obsolete in the near future. The two companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars when they developed and marketed their products and they spent even more still when they made deals with movie studios for exclusivity rights to their movies. Sony tied its Blu-Ray technology to its PS3 gaming system in order to bolster sales of the PS3 and of Blu-Ray discs, while the XBOX 360 supported HD-DVD technology. Sony's discs eventually won over the market share and forced Toshiba to cut prices of it HD-DVDs and HD-DVD players. Blu-Ray technology drove HD-DVD out of the market and according to James Sherwood at reghardware.com sales of Blu-Ray disks in the first five months of 2008 surpassed sales in all of 2007. However, Wolfgang Gruener of tomshardware.com sighted the Electronic Merchants Association's 2007 report which predicted that sales of Blu-Ray disks will not surpass those of regular DVDs until the year 2012. The product is catching on with the American consumer, but the transition is slow and the technology may be outdated before it becomes the most widely used medium for movie watching.
Digital media has already replaced the compact disk for music lovers, as the IPod had taken over society. CD sales were down 19% in 2007 according to the Nielsen Soundscan, in favor of digital downloading and storage. The convenience of the IPOD, its ease of use and its multiple applications are killing off the compact disk and the slaughter will only continue to get worse. According to Greg Bartolos at thebigtakeover.com online music sales have forced big electronics retailers to consider devoting less space to compact discs, and small independent music stores may be forced out of business. Consumers are no longer willing to shell out $18-20 for an album with one or two good songs when they can sit at home and spend a dollar for a song they enjoy and put it on their IPOD. Sony should pay attention to this scenario, because movies are the next medium to fall prey to digital downloads.
At the beginning of the year Comcast demonstrated internet service speed that ran 16 times faster than today's fastest speeds, and promised a four minute download time for a high definition movie, as opposed to today's six hour download. The super high speed service may make DVD buying a thing of the past. Just as most people prefer downloading music to buying CDs, most will prefer downloading movies to trips to the video store. Apple had already introduced its Xdoc HD which converts compressed files into High Definition in order to play videos on a high definition television. Blu-Ray disks will no longer be necessary to get the superior picture and sound quality, and the movie industry will be forced to adapt in much the same way as the record industry. Instant downloads are the future of movie watching, and the Blu-Ray will go the way of the video cassette sooner rather than later.
I feel that the IPOD has the upper hand out of all the entertainment technology we have considered. Its adaptability and versatility as well as its ease of use enable it to appeal to a virtually all of society. Everyone from grandmothers to children can use an IPOD relatively easily. Music can enhance most daily experiences from chores to commutes to working out to work to studying; music makes the good times better and the bad times not as bad. The IPOD conveniently brings music anywhere anytime. Digital downloads give it the edge over the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3. While both offer internet access, the user is tied down to the television in the home. It is difficult to enjoy and XBOX 360 while commuting to work and it does little to ease the strain of the traffic. Apple has already introduced the I-Phone which sensibly melds the two most common mobile technologies into one, and it already offers movie downloads through iTunes Movie rentals. Apple will continue to develop the IPOD and its support technologies to eventually make all media digital and mobile in a convenient package. Then people will never talk to each other again.