March 9th, 2010
Inspired by the recent 2Story blog post on Wi-Fi I’ve been prompted to think about how Wi-Fi has evolved in recent years. Over the last few years, there have been significant leaps and bounds in the availability of internet access in public areas (“hotspots”). In my hometown I remember seeing the expansion in availability of public Wi-Fi stretch from one of the locally-owned coffee shops to the local chain coffee shops and bookstores before I graduated from high school. Now, I drive through on the way into town and see McDonald’s “Free Wi-Fi” sign displayed proudly under their sign. This amazes me.
Now, it is no secret that Wi-Fi is not free at all hotspots. The most bothersome example for me, personally, is Starbucks. The closest coffee shop to my house at home is a Starbucks, so it’s a pain in the butt when I want to go somewhere to work because it means I’ve got to go across town to get to a coffee shop with free wireless internet access. From what I understand, they have started allowing individuals to comment when they purchase a “Starbucks Card”, but it’s still another hoop to jump through to get my internet access.
I am not oblivious to the fact that internet access costs businesses money. In fact, knowing the broadband access solutions that are available in most localities, I’m willing to bet that there are significant price increases over what individuals like myself pay for internet access to our homes. Additionally, business have to worry about the problem of free riders who do not pay for the product, but use the internet access. This complicates the problem when there are limited access resources available, and paying customers are not able to get onto the internet. However, if they charge money to their customers (on top of the product) odds are that a lot of people like me will opt to travel a little further rather than pay more than the cost of my drink for internet access. So, then, what does the well-meaning business do to preserve ease-of-access to customers? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: business, coffee-shop, free-wifi, hotspots, wifi
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December 1st, 2009
Brantley Coile
So Monday my Computer Architecture class got a guest lecture from a guy by the name of Brantley Coile, who was there to talk about the development and history of the hard disk drive. Now, I’m not making note of this because Mr. Coile was a particularly amazing speaker or anything of the sort, but rather because it was a lecture from someone who works in the industry. Mr. Coile is Founter and CTO of Coraid, an Athens, Georgia, based company specializing in network based large-scale storage.
I feel as those academia often suffers from something I’ve labeled the “PhD Delima.” To elaborate: there is a group of in every class of students that absolutely love school. I feel that these are the people who usually end up getting their Masters or PhD’s, and I feel as though there are a great many of them who have never worked in the industry and never want to work in the industry for one reason or anther. So they become teachers.
Now, I have all the respect in the world for teachers and professors because their job is more often than not a thankless task. However, it is validating, in a sense, to hear some of the same material we’ve been reading/hearing about in our architecture class reinforced by someone who makes his living working in the business world, which is where I’d like to end up myself.
Tags: brantley-coile, class, coraid, education, industry
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November 21st, 2009
So, I was clicking around CNN’s TECH Section this evening and I came across a WIRED article that was talking about Google’s ChromeOS. I will be honest by saying that this is the first time I’ve actually taken this seriously. I mean, I haven’t been following it that closely because… well… I have other things to do. However, I found the wired article very interesting.
The concept of a netbook as a “TV to the internet” of sorts is kind of a cool concept and it makes sense for a certain section of the market, for example: individuals who have a desktop computer as their main machine and just want a portable device to get online in coffee shops and such or individuals that have no need for actual computational power (like my mom).
Naturally there were a few things that caught my attention. Specifically, the following paragraph:
All the applications will be web-based, meaning users won’t have to install apps, manage updates or even backup their data. All data will be stored in the cloud, and users won’t even have to bother with anti-virus software: Google claims it will monitor code to prevent malicious activity in Chrome OS web apps. (WIRED)
I will be the first to admit that I’m a control freak, and on the other hand I’ll also admit that I really like the idea of everything being on the cloud. As sad as it is when I loose data, I would much rather loose data than not have control over that data. Am I alone in that?
I don’t know, I guess I could see myself getting one in the near future when I switch to a desktop platform as my primary computer and then purchase a computer like this. I’m not incredibly eager to be one of the early adopters for this, but I will be watching it closely.
I’ve included a video explaining the significance of WHAT Google ChromeOS actually is after the jump. I found that it was a very well stated explanation, so I recommend it for anyone who is curious about what the difference is between ChromeOS and a standard computer. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: chrome, google, tech
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November 17th, 2009
When he was 17, George Hotz poured hundreds of hours of his summer vacation into a special project: learning the iPhone’s secrets. His unpaid labor eventually paid off. With the help of a soldering iron, he was the first to unlock the iPhone, delivering the handset to international networks before Apple had a chance to. He got some perks, too. His unlock catapulted him to internet stardom, catching the eye of an entrepreneur who traded his Nissan 350Z car for Hotz’s restriction-free iPhone. (CNN)
For anyone wondering if the Computer World has rockstars, the answer is yes. The first man to hack an iPhone will live in infamy forever. Although, as usual, I am always torn… while it would be awesome to get a car for a hack like that, I would much rather be an actual student at a University then just be forced to pretend to be one to have a social life (see paragraph 4 of that article).
Tags: apple, cnn, iphone
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November 16th, 2009
So, I’ve obviously had my head buried in books for too long, because I completely missed this until now:
Apple’s lips are sealed about its widely rumored tablet computer, but technology experts are giddy about the device, already exclaiming it will be the gadget to end all gadgets. [...] If the rumors are true, the tablet will be able to do basically everything a gadget could possibly do. It’s an e-reader, a gaming device, and a music player. You can watch TV and movies on it and surf the Internet (or so we’ve heard). And it will have thousands of third-party apps available for it … or maybe it will run Mac OS X. That’s all still unknown. (CNN Money)
The CNN article then continues to tout quotes from different individuals about the tablet, but it’s really nothing enlightening. It boils down to “It might exist and it might succeed,” which I already knew from the first paragraph.
But, yes, Apple is taking over the world. Wasn’t Steve Jobs retiring eventually? Not that it matters. He’ll just have all that free time to work with Al Gore on creating a system of government that runs on Mac OS X and the Internet… they might invite Google to come, too.
Tags: apple, tablet
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