Take Down

Take Down

“Mitnick and Shimomura meet twice in the movie, one of which prompts Kevin to flee to Seattle. This meeting did not actually take place.

In the movie, Mitnick hacks into Shimomura's computers and steals/deletes his files and software. Mitnick admits hacking Shimomura's computers using IP spoofing but claims he never caused any damage to anyone by deleting files or data, merely copying source code of some software, out of curiosity.” 

Criticism and Inaccuracy (wikipedia.org)

         
  The movie compelled the viewer like it happens for real. If we will consider the Criticism and Inaccuracy (wikipedia.org), what the directors’ (Joe Chappelle and stars Skeet Ulrich and Russell Wong.) did is unethical.  The value of ethics is getting lower apart from information technology.

About the Characters

Kevin David Mitnick

He was the main character of the story. He is a generous person who cracks private and public institution’s system to get something (information, data) from it and earn.  He sometimes gave his things to public for free. Ethically speaking, he is a no good man who want to know everything and consider things as pun. He always want to prove something, he don’t want to have somebody before him. Before he did his thing, he knew that it is illegitimate, that he prefers to play with power.  He believes that no one can get what one can’t see.

            Tsutomu Shimomura

He was a private security consultant and hacker. He bites the bait of Kevin David Mitnick, and they played together. In the movie, with conviction he described Kevin as a cracker.  

A hacker is a person who is proficient with computers and/or programming to an elite level where they know all of the in's and out's of a system. There is NO illegality involved with being a hacker. A cracker is a hacker who uses their proficiency for personal gains outside of the law. EX: stealing data, changing bank accounts, distributing viruses etc. What the hacker does with their knowledge of systems within the definition of the law is what defines them as hacker vs. a cracker. It's then safe to say that all crackers are hackers, but not all hackers are crackers. This is an important distinction.  – wiki.answer.com

Whether the movie is a true story or not, it shows how ethics played an important role of our life. If it is low are high, it can affect the human personality, family and his/her situation. Issues of Ethical values are not in particular time, it happened before, at present and in the future.  Ethics just disappears when we are in pleasure doing what is wrong, and we remember it when we faced the blind consequences.  Nowadays, there is more Kevin around us giving more than what we want, and unknowingly we enjoyed it and spread the fruit of internet dependency.

                       

Self-service Kiosk

Self-service Kiosk

ATM kiosk, Airport kiosk, LTO motorcycle kiosk, Magellans Cross kiosk are the famous kiosk being used in the Philippines. They said it’s a safe and has a fast approach to input, process and analyze data.

A self-service kiosk is a practical way to serve people and at the same time satisfying the company’s service performance. Kiosks can be functional 24 hours a day, making possibilities of sale round the clock. Included its user friendliness, comprehensive data presentation resulting the exchange of information is clear, protection and security and less time consumption, terminals are effective and efficient invention. It is also a machine based intelligence, so the chances of errors and frauds is lesser.

Not new, since the intervention of technology minimizes the human interference of service oriented company. Although, it saves a lot of time, manpower and assets, it creates imbalance or separation of society and its classes, another discrimination between the have and the have not.  Classisms, as technology evolves many are deprived. We are advanced yet semi-feudal. I am saying that as much as possible, one should consider the other side of the so-called development.

           

A Reaction to: “Free Texts to Hurt Carriers Bottom Line”

A Reaction to: “Free Texts to Hurt Carriers Bottom Line”

As of 2008, Philippines still remain as the text messaging champ according to the US study (Mashable.com). I don’t know how to react on this title, if I should be proud or to upset. In Europe, Japan and other East Asian countries, they used to send email on mobile phone, but in the Philippines where income is low, it is even more popular. And it really penetrates to our culture, and the downside is not enough to quantify its development. We were used to hide mobiles between our palms when praying, texting while eating, spending our vacant time in texting rather than resting. It’s more like addiction.

The Philippine mobile market way back 2000 has grown almost 80 million, and around 1.8 billion SMS were being sent everyday as of 2009 (www.budde.com.au).

“Apple plans to launch a new platform Wednesday that could help put a big dent in wireless carriers' bottom line.” – introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. iMessage, it permit them to neglect the SMS text-messaging network, along with carriers' texting charges and yes – it’s Free, and it is all about this thing.  

On one hand, it would be a spoon-fed transgression, another issue of aesthetics in the part of the text –addict, rejuvenating since everybody can avail the burden of prepaid/postpaid load, a relief. If apple inc. will inform and convince the people in the Philippines, everybody will unite and commune while doing the planking.  On the other hand, it would be sad to know that many workers will loose their jobs; our annual revenue in texting will withdraw.

But I think the network carrier managements were anticipating for these things, perhaps they will develop another services. Another issue and another culture.

Trends To Watch In 2011

TOPIC 4:

Trends To Watch in 2011 (Computerworld.com)

          I just don’t want to think, that our technology is now predictable. The trends described by Scot Finnie are now on its way to open new technologies and development. Although some are improving, the rapid changes of technology put me uneasy.

It's cool to think, how to produce a project made by numbered people, with its highly advance technology being used. It's wise for the company to meet the demand and work productively, even if the staff is smaller and shorter time-lines. Recession really can be transformational. Virtualization Vs. Cloud Computing - this site describe the difference between the two computing techniques, and I realized that they are not the same thing. Choosing between the two matters on what type of business do we belong, how are we going to input, process and store the data being gathered. Mobile is exploding, I think I'm going to be biased here, for me the vital role of mobile is for communication. The demand and supply should be in balance, we assume that what we think as cool and in-time gadgets are our necessities.

I remember a cliché that said; the value of a person is recognized when they are gone. Yes, I’m referring to Steve Jobs, and I search for his contributions and it’s hard to enumerate. I just love to watch how his work put into the archive of IT. “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people are not used to an environment where excellence is expected.

Green Computing

Green Computing

       

“In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern ...”, I would love to hear our technology would perform like Green Lantern, not just in business orientation but also in  security and protection, not only for being but also in our environment.

It’s good to know that there are groups or individual who aims for development not only in technology. When we will put it in a perspective in working two things at the same time, thinking of improvement both from IT industry, and our living home, environment, seems like impossible. I first thought to do things one at a time or let somebody do the other things, its not about who will do it, but when will we start it. It really requires a communal effort. What has now proven was once only imagined. Greening is a necessity, never an option. We may not be the direct receiver of the effects of using the hazardous substance being used in IT equipment, but the next generation.

           

We have social networking, blogs, wikis and other web portals to spread and educate other people. There are also ways to support greening IT. It was suggested that it’s better to use, laptops than desktop computer that consumes power vastly. The LCD is better that CRT, proper disposal of ink, cartridges, battery and other hazardous substances that other people consider as wastes.  

The IT sector and users must develop a positive attitude toward addressing environmental concerns and adopt forward-looking, green-friendly policies and practices.

A Reflection to: Three Technologies to Watch By Tim Bajarin

As I read the Three Technologies to Watch, I was imagining the fun and excitement; inhaling the air of pleasure. The inventions amazed me, especially when I recall the history of computers. Bill Gates said that “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”... He helped me to understand more the essence of technology in a business, and media can be the den of every businessman together with our rapid technology development. Suddenly, something reminds me the Law of Motion that in every action, there is an equal opposite reaction, exhaling the air of nervousness. I think, there are inventions made out of discontentment, dissatisfaction not as a necessity. Then eventually we will forget the gap between what we need, and what we want. I think, I am not in the position to ask for no more development.

1. Kinect – describe by Tim like if you're playing a soccer game, instead of using a game controller or wand, you just use your foot to kick the ball. This technology uses special sensors to pick up all of the body's movements and links them to the motion response in the game. It degrades the enjoyment of outdoor sports, which is more effective than cyber sports. Do we really need to have this recreation than flying a kite, go picnic outside and jellyfishing?

2. Augmented Reality/ Mediated Reality - Artificial information about the environment and its objects can be overlaid on the real world. He describe it like pointing your iPad at the night sky, and using the iPad's navigation chip and gyroscope, it finds the actual stars and constellations in the sky above you. Why do I need such object to determine the constellation, I will missed the pleasure of pointing the stars, contemplating with princess of the night and poem writing with the moon. Besides, It keeps our memory in stain.

Apple Ipad/Mcbook Air -

• Pros Exquisitely thin. Lightest in its class. Full size keyboard. Sharp, vibrant 11.6-inch widescreen. SSD is durable and quick. Good graphics chip included.

• Cons No SD Card slot. No Ethernet. Sluggish compared with its peers.
Unimpressive battery life.

Ipad is for angry birds.

Computer Literacy for Elementary Students

Children should not be behind the development of technology. "The Master Plan for Basic Education (1996-2005) has the mandate of modernizing education. The programme is being pursued through the introduction of modern instructional materials––such as computers and Internet, videos, well equipped science laboratories and machine shops as well as libraries - DepEd”. Education is a fundamental human right; every child is entitled to it.

It is good to know that our government is not isolating our children to our technological development. Considering it was funded by our government, and supervised by DepEd, 74% of Filipino schoolchildren surveyed nationwide are computer literate with access to the internet (UNICEF-AIJC).

The government did their part, and it is beyond on their reach to monitor the attitude of student towards technology. Some are reported that this step draws an incredible exposure of our youngster to our valued technology, but on the other hand there are drawbacks when these children are overexposed to the said technology. Some are getting dependent into it; they consider it as if a part of their childhood. Instead of physical activity outdoor, they prefer to stay at home and sit to play online games or visiting their social networking sites.

These technologies can feed information; generate ideas to the extent of childhood development, but there are  factors to be considered that they must thought also the appropriate usage and function, Information technology ethics and the supervision of their parents/teachers. Elementary pupils aged 7-10 years old are still vulnerable or might exposed to pornography, gambling and addiction if not monitored.