Tutorial 4: Microwaves/Fixed Wireless

Microwaves are radio waves that provide high-speed signal transmission. Another name for microwave transmission is "fixed wireless". This is the process of sending signals from one microwave station to another. Microwaves are good for transmitting information from one place to another because microwave energy is able to penetrate through smoke, light rain, haze, snow, and other elements that normally would inhibit transmission. Microwaves can also transmit data at rates thousands of times fatser than a basic dial up modem.

In order for microwave communications to take place, microwave stations must be in place. Microwave stations are land based refelctive dishes that consist of transceivers, antennas, and other equipment necessary for transmission to occur. The placement and location of microwave stations is vital. Microwaves use line of sight transmission. In order to avoid physical obstacles such as mountains or buildings, microwave stations are usually located on the tops of mountains, buildings, or towers.

Microwaves can be used to transmit power over long distances. However, in order for transmission to be successful, microwave stations must be installed in areas where line of sight transmission is possible. For instance microwave trasnmission is usually used in enviroments where physical transmission is nearly impossible. Wide open areas such as deserts or lakes are good locations where microwaves can thrive. Microwave transmission is also effective in order to communicate with a satellite. Today many organizations such as hospitals, universities, cable providers, and phone companies all use microwave transmission in order to transmit and receive data. Bluetooth technology also employs the use of microwave transmission. Microwaves have been a part of the communication industry since the late 1950s. Over time micorwaves and the technology associated with them have increased and expanded aiding and providing a variety of different uses especially in the world of information technology.  



 Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave#Communication
               http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/micro.html
               Discovering Computers 2010 "Living in a Digital Age" pg.496

Images: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=microwave#ai:MC900071164|mt:0|
Screen shots of free images from microsoft.com. I own a copy of microsoft office. All three of these  images are "free images". All three of these screenshots were taken by me personally in order to illustrate and help paint a mental picture of microwaves and microwave stations.

Secure Email Project Post

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/07/071031/tampa-company-using-biometrics-secure-computer-sys/

The article above is about a company in Tampa, Florida, Realtime North America, that is using biometric technology to help businesses and governement agencies tighten up their coumputer security. The compnay developed a biometric based system named "biolock" that recognizes each individual users' fingerprints. The benefits of this system is that a computer administartor has the capabilities of assigning by terminal who has access to certain information. Also it allows the administrator to know when data was accessed, how long it was accessed for, and for what purpose.

Realtime North America has also developed a special mouse and keyboard that scans fingerprints to obtain a match. These systems also keep track of users' activities as well as restrict the logons or the level of security clearance for various users. The chief operations offcier of Realtime North America believes that high profile corporate fraud cases such as Enron, Paine Webber, and NASA could have been prevented through the use of biometric fingerprint technology. The crimes that were committed in these cases exposed a weakness in the traditional use of passwords to protect information.

Realtime North America believes that that biometric technology is the final frontier in protecting vital data. The system they provide can save millions in fraud losses. The next big hurdle for Realtime North America will be to persuade lawamakers to back the technology with government funding.

"Database Project"

The database project taught me many different things. I learned how to create queries, forms, and reports using microsoft access 2007. I didn't realize how difficult access is to use. This being my first time using access, it took me a while to figure everything out. I was able to take adavantage of the form and report wizards beforehand thus not having to do so much altering in the design view. The form and report activities gave me the most trouble. I might have used the query as my data source for the form activity instead of the member's table. However, knowing this, I was still uanble to denote whether the two new members I created in my form were an Individual or Family Member. The report was no walk in the park either. The grouping and sorting portions were complicated. However, I feel I was able to figure it out in the wizard.

Overall there is not much I would change as far as the fucntionality of this database. I would, however, alter the ease of manipulation and input. I personally found the layout view much more helpful and less complicated than the design view. Microsoft Access is hard to master in a couple weeks but even with the amount of time I spent on this project I still feel unfamiliar and uncomfortable using access. The lectures were helpful but only to a certain extent.

Tutorial 3: E-Commerce/ Types of Online Shopping

E-commerce or electronic commerce, is the selling and buying of goods, products, or services over the internet. With the expansion of the interent and its integration into everday life, more goods and services are being purchased over the internet. The term e-commerce is used interchangeably with e-business. Also websites that take part in online retail selling are said to be conducting e-tailing. Just about anyone can take part in e-commerce. The only necessities are a computer or mobile device, internet access, and the desire to purchase services or goods over the internet. Just about any good or service can be purchased over the internet. Books, flowers, groceries, music, and movies are only a few of the products and services that are available to individuals through e-commerce.

Th three main types of e-commerce are business to business, business to consumer, and consumer to consumer. Business to consumer consists of the sale of services and goods to the general public. Amazon.com is the perfect example of business to consumer e-commerce. The potential customer visits an electronic storefront which includes product descriptions, images, and a shopping cart. Most online stores allow customers to have shopping carts in order to allow them to view their selected products and easily prompt them to check out. Amazon.com is also considered an e-retail site due to the fact that this particular business uses the web to sell products.

Consumer to consumer is another form of e-commerce. This form of e-commerce takes place when one consumer sells directly to another. This ususally happens through online auctions where users bid on items sold by others. The product or service being sold goes to the highest bidder. Ebay.com is the most prevalent and well know website that takes part in consumer to consumer  e-commerce. However the site in this instance only serves as an intermediary. Checking products for quality is not a responsibility of most consumer to consumer sites. Still many consumer to consumer sites charge a flat fee or receive a commission off of the sale or auction of items, goods, or services.

Of the three main types of e-commerce the most prevalent is business to business. The reason for this is that there will be many business to business transactions involving sub-components or raw materials throughout a supply chain. In the end there's only one business to consumer transaction.  Businesses provide services and goods to other businesses such as research, technical support, marketing, advertising, online recruiting, financing and credit services. These services are offered online and businesses alll over the world can take advanatge of them. Business to business transactions ususally take place between a manufacturer and a wholesaler or between a wholesaler and a retailer. Accenture is a company that takes part in business to business transactions. This company provides a plethora of services for other businesses.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_commerce
              http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-commerce
              Discovering Computers 2010 "Living in a Digital Age" pgs. 98-100

Images: Screenshots of Amazon, Ebay, and Accenture. These were taken by me personally, in order to illustrate the different examples of electronic commerce sites.

"Presentation and Web 2.0 Project

For my presentation project I chose scenario one, which was to pitch an entrepreneurial idea to a venture capital company. I brainstormed a few ideas until I came up with a plan to acquire an avocado production facility in Peru and export avocados into the U.S. I figured this would be a straightforward business opportunity to present to either some angel investors or a venture capital company. I put together a power point that I believe would be able to persuade a few investors.

My power point presentation followed a logical flow. I started with an executive summary, provided a mission statement, presented my course of action, a SWOT analysis, and various other aspects that I would've included if I was presenting an entrepreneurial idea. I also tried to include and cover as much information as possible during the presentation so that the feasibility of my venture idea would not be questioned. I feel that my presentation is visually appealing as well as to the point and thorough. I avoided clutter as much as possible and tried to avoid inconsistencies, errors, and unbelievable claims. My slides are readable and contained bullet points that I used to help elaborate my speaking portions.

Critiquing one of my peer's presentations helped me make sure that my presentation was correctly put together. I learned that power point seems to be the most effective tool for this project. I also realized that YouTube was not the only means of sharing my presentation over the web. Lastly, I learned that following the grading rubric is harder depending on the topic of the presentation.

Overall this project was a learning experience for me in many ways. This was my first time uploading a presentation video on the internet. The power point project was more time consuming than I expected. I had to make sure all my images and animations were "free".  I also had to make sure that the music I included in my presentation was authentic and paid for. This project will definitely help me in the business world. Considering the fact I chose scenario one, this project was definitely something I hope to be doing again in my future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf0Oshy-Ylk

Tutorial 2: What is MP3?/ Audio File Compression

The history behind MP3 format and its technology is brief and has been around for over a decade. A group of inidviduals known as the Moving Pictures Expert Group developed different compression systems for video data such as DVD's, TV broadcasts, and statellite feeds. These compression systems were developed in order to store large quantities of data in smaller spaces. They also developed a compression system for audio files called MPEG audio Layer 3, otherwise known as MP3.

In today's day and age, audio files are compressed to reduce their file sizes. The bigger an audio file is the more room it takes up on a computer's hard drive and the longer it would take the file to be downloaded off of a website. This problem created a gap. To fill this gap, MP3 formatting of audio files was created. The MP3 format reduced an audio file ten to fourteen times that of its original size. Even with this reduction in size, MP3 files still maintain a large portion of the original quality of sound in the audio file.

According to Marshall Brain, and his article " How MP3's Work", "The MP3 format is a compression system for music." What this means is that MP3 format compresses a song/audio file that is normally thrity-two meagbytes all the way down to three megabytes. This is beneficial because it allows audio files to be downloaded more quickly and once dowloaded take up less space on a hard drive. Hard drives can store up to hundreds of different MP3 audio files.

However, a cost comes with the compression of audio files. Using the MP3 format diminishes some of the original sound quality. MP3 versions of auido files do not sound the same as the originals. This is because some of the file has been removed during the compression process. The vast use of MP3's in place of the orginal files has caused music studios to change the way they mix recordings. There is no longer a concentrated focus on creating dynamic sound. It seems that the world has become used to the sound provided by the MP3 format. In conclusion, Marshall Brain explained MP3 format well by stating that, "MP3 is nothing magical. It is simnply a format that compresses a file into a smaller size so that it's easier to move around and store on your home computer or your portable music player."

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3
              http://computer.howstuffworks.com/mp31.htm#
              http://www.nzhypnosis.com/hypnosis-mp3.html
              http://www.karbosguide.com/hardware/module7d4.htm

"Excel Project"

The excel project was both difficult and time consuming. First I had to manipulate and format a set of raw data. This portion of the project was the easiest. I used the video examples as my guide and was able to manipulate the data set to fit the requirements. Patience was the key for this part of the project. It was hard not to rush through this section and bypass a portion of the directions. However, through trial and error I was able to complete this piece of the project and feel some sense of accomplishment. This was the largest set of data that I have ever worked with in Excel and I had to overcome a few obstacles especially when using formulas. Overall I feel I did well on this part of the project but my difficulties were about to increase.

The second part of the Excel project was the data analysis section. This was the portion of the project where I had to create two pivot tables. The first pivot table was fairly basic. However, I struggled when trying to figure out what to put in the values section of the pivot table. After a few hours of trial and error I realized that the count of the target achieved was the necessary input in the values section. Hopefully it turned out fine. The second pivot table was a nightmare for me. This pivot table I was asked to determine the average percent increase in heart rates for the subjects but the subjects needed to be grouped by decades. I was never able to figure out how to group the subjects by decades. I watched the pivot table videos online multiple times and I read the excel discussion board. Still I was not able to figure out how to group the subjects. I hope I will not be penalized too many points. As far as the other components of the pivot table, I feel I was able to figure them out.

In conclusion, the data analysis portion of this project was extremely challenging. I wasn't able to figure out how to group the subjects by decade and thus ended up not meeting the requirements for my second pivot table. Overall this project tested my patience, my computer skills, and my attention to detail. There were times where I felt like giving up especially with the pivot tables. Luckily the discussion posts and videos were able to help me in creating my first one but I was never able to grasp the concept of grouping. However, I did learn how to manipulate cells by using different addressing techniques. I also figured out how to alter portions of the pivot tables by switching up the inputs into the columns, rows, and values sections. Below is a screen capture of my second pivot table. All 49 subjects are visible because I was never able to figure out how to group them by decade.