Ninite

Ninite is a cloud-based tool that was created, in my own opinion, to save a lot of time during the process of installing local applications. With this tool you are given a gallery of applications to choose from. Every application you select will be downloaded and install on your local machine. You will find that Ninite does not install any junk toolbars or add-ins because it is designed to give an auto-response of "No". Install multiple applications from a central location and don't worry about missing any annoying check-boxes! View my presentation from the link below, I even created a demo video.

Kevin's Presentation

Userful Cloud Based Tools

What kind of IT support would I be if I didn't start with a cloud-based antivirus?



Panda Cloud: this is a free antivirus that lives in the cloud and by doing so it spares your computer from the heavy load that most antivirus programs press on your computer. As each user downloads and installs Panda Cloud it begins to grow. Panda Cloud gathers information about potential threats as each user travels through rough waters. It is updated every few hours instead of every few days.

Amazon Cloud Drive: if you are a big fan of Amazon then this is the tool for you. All music purchased on this site will be stored in your Cloud Drive. You will receive 5GB of free drive space and multiple options for growth are available. By purchasing one MP3 album you will receive 20GB for a year, free! Other storage options are available for purchase, all the way up to a 1TB.

Skype: a personal favorite for many people, especially those with family living far distances away or companies who use video conferencing on a major scale. Skype is a cloud-based tool that allows users to make video calls from their computer or their mobile phone. This is perfect for those wanting to see loved ones they haven't seen in a while or for the company trying to bring groups together to deliver the same message. 

Mon.itor.us: a free website monitoring service that helps website owners monitor their websites for maximum availability. This service allows the user to monitor the traffic that their websites receive, a task most website owners don't have in today's work place.

Ninite: this cloud-based service is free and fully automated. No more hunting for those common applications over and over again. Ninite brings a magnitude of major applications to a central locations. From web applications such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome, to runtimes such as Flash Player, Java, and Silverlight. Take a fresh operating system and install the most common applications in a one stop shop for free. A great time saver!!

Shades like the Terminator!

If you have ever seen the movie Terminator, then you know the Terminator had the ability to scan human faces for recognition. Soon technology may bring this ability to the real world, starting in Brazil. With the World Cup coming up in 2014, the cops will really be able to scan the crowds for bad guys. How you ask? They will all be wearing sunglasses that will be equipped with cameras. These cameras have the strength to scan up to 400 identified criminals a second. I find it hard to believe Mr. Bad Guy can hide in with the civilians now.

What if they are far off in the back? As long as the criminal is within 12 miles then their facial structure can be scanned. The cameras in the sunglasses can scan 46,000 points on the human face to create an exact match of the criminals in the database. Through a wireless connection, the sunglasses can attempt to match their results with up to 13 million profiles. What happens if the find a match? A section of the shades will bring up instructions for the officer’s next move. I think they should relay a successful scan between officers, this way the other officers in his/her close proximity will receive the same scan alert and directions for a group effort in the takedown.

They still have three years to complete this technology before the big event finally gets there but once it arrives how long before you or I can own a pair of these terminator shades? Will we be able to scan our peers just as the cops can or will we be limited by some unknown protocol? I find it hard to believe that this sort of power will be made public considering how easy it might be to reverse engineer the shades. What I mean by this is that maybe with the right tools and skills a hacker could tap into the police database and create their own server with police recognition technology.

Coolest-gadgets

Sony Move meets Linux Desktop

Now that Sony has joined its two rivals (Microsoft and Nintendo) in the world of motion sensors, developers have begun evolving the idea of a gesture controlled desktop PC’s. In other words, your PlayStation Move controller will be used as a magical wand/mouse. One developer by the name of Jacob Pennock has already demonstrated that through the use of the new mouse you can wave the wand in the air forming an “F” on the screen and open a Facebook page from your Linux-based desktop. In further detail, the PS3 records the motion registered by the Move controller, which by the way is connected via Bluetooth, through the use of the PS3 Eye and transmits the data over a network to your computer. The technology is in the “closed beta” stages of its development but the group is working hard to add more gestures to their recognition library for the public this spring. Here’s a demo below:

PCMag.com

The Smart House

A company named Savant is leading the way into the future with their new line of Apple based home automation products. From changing temperature, opening the blinds and turning on the TV to HDMI switches and bathrooms that will read RSS feeds to you while you shower, they can do it all. Savant uses On-Screen Display (OSD) control and automation technology to customize your iPad, iPhone, and even your HD TV into a user friendly control panel with the help of a backbone ran through one or more MAC minis. Through the use of their app from the Apple Appstore, you can see a picture of your living room and touch a lamp to turn it on. Not only that, you can press and hold your finger over the lamp to open up a diming switch. Yes I said a diming switch! You can lower the amount of light in your living room by pressing on a virtual lamp from your Apple device. Check out this video to help give you a taste of this absolutely amazing technology!

Here is my question: How much longer before your stove has an RJ-45 connection coming out of the back of it?? You’re on the way home from work and you're running late. You need to have dinner ready by a certain time because you are having important guest over. Well if you could preheat the stove from your iPhone you could most definitely save yourself some time. Next could be the dishwasher or maybe the washing machine...who knows where this technology could lead us into the future?!?

SavantAV

Google’s Disco allows group messaging.

Google has an in-house startup company called Slide that it purchased for only $182 million. Slide works freely within the walls of Google and has created a new app that allows a hand chosen group of users to text with one chat interface. Users have to sign-up at Disco.com and create an account using your 10-digit mobile number. From there the website will send you a text to your mobile phone to verify that you are who you say you are. Now you are allowed to create groups, naming them as you see fit. Other members of the group will see the group name so be careful not to step on anyone’s toes.

Now that you have created your group, the website will forward every text through-out the group members creating the group chat from your smart phone. The app works with Facebook so that you can use your “Friends List” to add group members. There have been rumors of Facebook creating its own group messaging so that is something to watch out for in the near future.

PC-Mag.com

New PC, Even Better!

So you have your old computer sitting next to your new one and you want to get started. I have found five steps that will speed up your new computer and help it fit in like the old one.

• Step 1: Backing up your data residing on your old computer with Windows Easy Transfer to an external hard drive. Important data such as your music, pictures, videos, any important documents, maybe your favorites, should be the main ingredients to making your new computer fit in. 
• Step 2:  Try a program called SlimComputer to scan your PC for safe programs that you may want to prevent from starting up or wish to remove. If you like the extra apps sent from the manufactures warehouse then I would recommend skipping this step.
• Step 3: Update your drivers via custom software already installed or by going to the manufactures website, finding the support page and downloading the latest drivers. Believe it or not, they do send out new computers with a driver update soon to come.
• Step 4: A personal favorite, Ninite. This is a website that helps you install a collection of very useful shareware in one swift move. Simply check the box next to the software you want to install and let go of the wheel (Mouse). Ninite is smart enough to know if you need the 32-bit version or 64-bit version of a program.
• Step 5: Use Windows Easy Transfer to load your backed up data onto your new computer and bam you are back in business!

Five Steps to a Better New PC

Computers reading your emotions...in your car.

Have you ever seen those Hollywood movies where the car has the ability to talk to the driver like a real person? Well Design Interactive has put their heads together with VRSonic to create an Affective Virtual Environment Training System also called "A-VETS". A-VETS use "noninvasive" methods of calculating a person’s emotional response in real time. Volvo already deploys heartbeat sensors for detecting abnormal heartbeat patterns. If a driver had a sudden influx in their heart rate like deer running out in front of the car or someone is trying to break into the car while the driver is in the car. Taking the future car a step further is Ferrari with their "mind-reading" car. The cockpit sensors for Ferrari will use psychometric and biometric technology to read a driver's heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity, and blood pressure. This feature will give the car the ability to measure the drivers fatigue level as well as measuring the driver’s reactions in critical moments like right before a crash.
There is still a major concern: Is this an invasion of privacy?
In many ways I believe it is an invasion of privacy but I think it is still too early to say. What would it mean for one of these systems if they were hacked? What sort of personal data would become public knowledge?  On the other hand, with the information the "smart car" could provide, car developers and doctors may be able to learn the reactions of the average human and develop a new car seat or seat belt that could save millions of lives in the future. What do you think: An invasion or advancement in car security?

PCmag.com

Boston Dynamics to build Cheetah Robot for DoD

Boston Dynamics have been awarded two multi-million contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA) to build several life-like robots. One will have human-like features and the other will be designed after a Cheetah.  The first model of the robot Cheetah is due in 20 months and the Boston-based company is aiming for it to reach speeds from 20-30 mph. This technology is expected to be updated two more times set at one-year intervals. In the future they hope to reach speeds of up to 70 mph which will completely destroy the current existing robot speeds of only 13 mph. The robot Cheetah will have a malleable body to allow for a zigzag motion and speed up the robot ability to take sharp turns faster. The build on the robot will be an articulated head, a flexible spine, a tail, and four legs.  Hopes are that the robot will be able to stop on a dime from whatever speed it is running at.

The human robot is called Petman and it has a lot of the same capabilities as human have only it doesn’t have a head. Petman is the same size as the average human and at times can look like a headless person. The Army uses Petman to test suits that are made to protect soldiers from certain types of chemicals. The Department of Defense is planning on using these futureristic robots for military purposes mainly but they can’t help but think that it would be practical for firefighting or maybe even agriculture.

Below is a video from one of several futuristic robots that Boston Dynamics development. It is called BigDog and it has the ability to hold up to 340lbs for long distances over rugged terrain. Check it out!

PCmag.com

Motorola Atrix 4G Plus Docking Station

AT&T after having lost their deal with Apple to keep the iPhone restricted to their network, decided to try their hand at a new concept. That concept is called the “Motorola Atrix 4G”. It weighs 4.76 oz. and runs off of HSDPA (voice and data) technology with a 4in multi-touch display. It lacks the new Android OS 2.3 by using the older version 2.2 that unlike the iPhone supports Adobe Flash. The Atrix 4G comes out with a 5MP front-facing camera (720p) with a LED flash bulb. It is GPS capable with 16GB of internal storage and additional storage option via a Micro SD card. The lithium ion battery is rated to last 9hours while talking and 250 while used under standby.

 Here is the cool part; the phone has a docking station that essentially turns the phone into a laptop. The laptop is basically a shell for the phone so when the phone is detached, the shell is rendered functionless. There is a mobile view of your phone on the laptop screen which allows you to still make calls while using the other apps on the screen. The user can “Goggle” a location (Wal-Mart, Taco Bell, and Hospital) and when the results appear you can click on the phone number to dial the chosen location. There is an alert system that lets you know when a text, email, or call is coming in. On the back there are some USB 2.0 ports for extra storage. Gaming works on the docking station just as it would on the phone. My favorite feature is the option to allow the phone to work as a mobile hotspot for other surrounding devices. Outside of these features the docking station is still fairly basic.

Solid State Drives

To the average PC user, speed is an important factor. To someone like me, it's everything! Just recently I learned that there are people out there installing their main operating system on solid state drives. By doing this they are, in some occasions, booting Microsoft Windows 7 in less than thirty seconds. This is because there are no moving parts and they use flash memory instead of spinning platters and read heads. SSD's have very high read and write speeds giving them yet another advantage over HDD's Here is an image to show you the difference between a solid state drive and a hard disk drive:

Up until recently complaints were surfacing about solid state drives slowing down after time. It was soon discovered that the solid state drives didn't completely delete a file, it was merely flagged as deleted and then when that space was to be used again the file would be written over top of. After the entire drive had been used, every new file would have to overwrite a flagged file taking up time. With the use of Trim technology the file is deleted the first time giving you the same write speed as when you first started using the drive. 

Solid state drives are much more expensive than hard disk drives. Right now the cost is not worth the lack of storage to the average user. For a 1 TB HDD you can get a 40GB SSD at the same cost(depending on the manufacture these numbers can vary). However, if you are just trying to speed up your OS, applications, and even your games then you can still use a 40GB SSD as your primary drive and back up all other data on a secondary HDD. Below is a video showing the difference between the two drives with Windows 7:

 Source: The Best HDDs and SSDs For Your Money December 2010

The iPhone has just got Smarter!

    As we all know, Apple and AT&T have been in "cahoots"with one another for some time now, allowing only AT&T customers the chance to own a iPhone. Well Verizon has finally stepped in and is now offering the CDMA version of the iPhone making it available to a much larger range of customers and also giving customers the choice of who will be their cellular provider. AT&T uses GSM communications which means the iPhone needed some changes in order to work on the Verizon network. I've found information that explains how the iPhone may be eligible to run on Verizons and AT&T's network with the new Qualcomm baseband processor. Apple has plans to make this a new feature with the release of the new iPhone 5, creating one model that works on both GSM and CDMA-based communications.

   
    Right now they are manufacturing two separate models. They made some changes by redesigning the antenna and moving the mute button to accommodate the new antenna. The vibrator was also redesigned for a smoother feel. The CDMA model doesn't come with a micro SIM card unlike the GSM version. This is because CDMA carriers do not run off of SIM card activations. Verizon is no longer taking pre-orders for the new CDMA model iPhone but they are counting down it's release to their website and store locations. These dates are 2/09/2011 at 3:00am est for the website and 2/10/2011 at 7:00am for retail stores. The iPhone starts as low as $199.99 for the 16GB version, of course that is with the two year activation.

Tear down reveals Verizon iPhone could have been dual mode

Digital Guitar

Thanks to Misa Digital Instruments, the guitar no longer needs strings. Kitara, as they call it, is a digital guitar that uses an advanced multi-touch screen, a full fretboard, and a polyphonic synthesizer to create a new and custom sound to whoever controls the guitar. They have made the use of the guitar similar to that of a normal guitar including the 24 fret count, however there are a large number of features that even todays best guitarist cannot replicate. There are six buttons located on each fret instead of strings. This gives the feel of a real guitar while at the same time giving newcomers a chance to play right from the start without callused finger tips to endure the steel strings. They hope that Kitara can compete with the digital keyboard that has been the more popular of the digital instrument family and even incorporate the use of an iPad. I urge you to check out this video for a demonstration, it's only 50 seconds long.

WiFi TV's with HDMI

Ever wonder how you are going to hide all the wires coming out of the back of your TV? Well here is the future of television. With a WiFi TV and a HDMI transmitter, you will be able to mount your TV on the wall without a single device in sight. Through the use of new technology, your PS3, Xbox360, Wii, and so on will be able to transmit a signal in 1080p quality. This means you can dedicate a closet somewhere to hide your DVD player or PS3. From that location, you can transmit a wireless signal to your TV as if it were plugged in with a HDMI cable. Check out this video on youtube if you want to see more. More Info click here

Getting to know me

I'm an easy going guy who likes to look at the positive side of everything if possible. I am currently pursuing a degree in Computer Information Technology at ECC and I have a previous degree in Mechanical Drafting from 2006. I use to be a volunteer for the IT Dept at ECC, then I was able to apply for a work study position which lead me to a part time position. I feel I have learned a great deal from all of these experiences and hope to continue to do so in the future. I would recommend to try and get as much hands on experience as possible because I believe this is the best way to learn. I look forward to the rest of my final semester!