Thursday, August 4, 2011

The work we have to do is less everyday.

I work part time at a butcher dept, in addition to my full-time college.
I have noticed after two days of work here, that technology is making life easier for a person.

I've had to stomp on cardboard boxes to break them down in previous jobs, but here I have access to a baler/box crusher.

When I package meat, I sit it on a conveyor belt, and the price tag with the pertinent information is placed on it with a robotic arm.....  I thought that someone would have to go through the trouble of placing a label on by hand after removing it from a printer...  guess that needed to be replaced by a robot...

I didn't expect to see equipment in a butcher shop receiving orders to do work through cat5 lines that are plugged into them.


What does the future of technology have to offer us next?

Monday, August 1, 2011

Cisco Networking Academy

After some looking around at my local college, I found that they teach a network administration courseload, with a strong emphasis on Cisco routers.

These classes have been excellent so far. They are somewhat challenging, and require attention to detail in order to master what is being taught.
Cisco textbooks are cheaper than most other college books, since they not only dominate the field in technology for networking, they also create most of the standards we use today.

The purpose of me taking these classes is to obtain a CCNA, which should give me a better chance of getting a job in the field.

I go to my nightshift job tomorrow, so I may take a day or two to post new content.

TL;DR : Cisco CCNA prep classes are worth the time.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Technology classes at your local college.

It's way easier than you think.
I took a class that teaches about the internet, how to use email, and some other crap like the use of amazon and ebay.
It was great, considering that I never read the book, and just did the assignments from personal knowledge alone. and I got an A.

If you can get the funding, DO IT!


I now have an apartment in town, and my postings are going to be much more frequent again.
I intend to write an article on my opinions of the cisco company, and my thoughts on their networking academy.

See you guys then....

Sunday, April 24, 2011

No power at house.

I wont be posting for probably another week, due to a tornado slamming a tree down on the power line that connects my house. My landlord won't answer any calls, so who knows when I'll have power.....

Saturday, April 16, 2011

What brand of CPU do you prefer?


 sorry bout the time it took to get this out, its been a busy week (cisco routing class)

I decided to write this entry to bring up the two largest manufacturers of Central Processing Units.
Back in the day, Intel was new in the business, and started producing processors for computers.
They helped make an architectural standard in conjunction with IBM, known today as x86.
Around the time of the 486, being after the 386 and 286, some employees defected and created a company called AMD (Advanced Micro Devices). After a war of lawsuits between the two erupted and lasted for years. It seems that the beef is settled between the two giants. Nowadays, they compete mostly in the CPU market, and both have pros and cons.

I will summarize the pros and cons of each company.

Advanced Micro Devices

Makes cheap and still decent CPUs.

Pros: Very affordable products
Cons: Not the cutting edge in processor speeds.


Intel Corporation

Commonly used by the big PC companies such as Dell, HP, and gateway.

Pros: Mind blowing speeds, various technologies that AMD lacks
Cons: Too damn expensive


 TL;DR, I use AMD, because I'm not rich, and can still have a quad core.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Breaking in a new PC.

So you finally scored that PC you wanted.... What to do now?
As long as your OS (Operating System) is fresh and clean, you should consider installing some programs to help you out on your computing adventures. In the last post I asked "what will you use your PC for ?", and explained what I use my system for, I will go into further detail of most of the programs I use.

Multimedia

Winamp
For my collection of digital music I use Winamp, which can parse a crapload of mp3s into a concise and easy to use library which is searchable. You may obtain winamp @ http://www.winamp.com for free, as well as a paid version with more features(that you probably don't need).

Combined Community Codec Pack

I use the CCCP for the codecs it contains, as well as the Media Player Classic that comes with it.
You may obtain CCCP @ http://www.cccp-project.net/ for free.


Internet

Tor

I use Tor for anonynimity purposes, see my post about tor for more info.

Mozilla Firefox
I use Firefox due to preference mostly. Check it out @ http://www.getfirefox.com
torbutton can be installed in it for easy and safer browsing.
Chatzilla is also nice if you want to lurk in the IRC areas of the internet.

Technitium MAC address changer

A great tool to change the MAC address of your network interface.
get it at tmac.technitium.com/



TL;DR  A short example list of programs I use on my PC, to help the reader get a better idea of what they need for their purposes.

Post any questions and I'll try my best to respond.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Getting a new PC (without getting ripped off)

I'm writing this as a rant after seeing a laptop for sale in a catalog, which boasted it had a "HUGE 20GB Hard Drive".......

That kinda killed me a little inside.

Many people want a new computer, but some don't know what to look for, and get less than they should for a price.

What are you getting the PC for? You might consider gaming, video editing, or maybe thats all crap to you and you just want a decent computer to browse the web and hold some digital photos.

You must consider the above, because it can mean a difference in hundreds of bucks.

Most people can get away with a factory built tower as a PC.


I have my own special needs in a PC, it needs to hold everything for about 10 people, and shouldn't lag.

Consider my build as an example, It acts as a powerhouse, working both to run my games, and serve the rest of the house with movies and music.
 I spent a bit extra than what most would, do to my nasty habit of hoarding information, and loving to customize PCs.


Summary


Computer:
Computer Type  ACPI x86-based PC
Operating System  Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
OS Service Pack  Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer  8.0.6001.18702 (IE 8.0)
DirectX  DirectX 10.1
Computer Name  ENTERPRISE
User Name  Zandercorp
Logon Domain  ENTERPRISE
Date / Time  2011-04-06 / 16:59
Motherboard:
CPU Type  QuadCore AMD Athlon II X4 620, 2800 MHz (13 x 215)
Motherboard Name  Biostar TA790GXB3 (3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN)
Motherboard Chipset  AMD 790GX, AMD K10
System Memory  3328 MB (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM)
DIMM1: Corsair XMS3 CM3X1G1333C9  1 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
DIMM2: Corsair XMS3 CM3X1G1333C9  1 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
DIMM3: Corsair XMS3 CM3X1G1333C9  1 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
DIMM4: Corsair XMS3 CM3X1G1333C9  1 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
BIOS Type  AMI (07/30/09)
Display:
Video Adapter  ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics (256 MB)
Video Adapter  ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics (256 MB)
3D Accelerator  ATI Radeon HD 3300 (RS780D)
Monitor  Generic PnP Monitor [NoDB] (942RY1NA00923)
Multimedia:
Audio Adapter  ATI RS690 HDMI @ AMD RS780/RS880 Chipset - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter  ATI RS690 HDMI @ ATI SB750 - High Definition Audio Controller
Storage:
IDE Controller  Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
IDE Controller  Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Storage Controller  AZCH756R IDE Controller
Storage Controller  Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
Storage Controller  VIA RAID Controller - 3249
Disk Drive  Generic Storage Device USB Device
Disk Drive  ST31000333AS ATA Device (1000 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Disk Drive  ST32000542AS ATA Device (2000 GB, 5900 RPM, SATA-II)
Disk Drive  ST3250623A ATA Device (250 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
Disk Drive  ST3500830AS ATA Device (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Optical Drive  Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A ATA Device (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:8x, DVD+RW:18x/8x, DVD-RW:18x/6x, DVD-RAM:12x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
Optical Drive  QNY 0PUZ896VCPQ SCSI CdRom Device
Optical Drive  QNY 0PUZ896VCPQ SCSI CdRom Device
SMART Hard Disks Status  OK
Partitions:
C: (NTFS)  218.2 GB (24.2 GB free)
D: (NTFS)  931.5 GB (315.8 GB free)
E: (NTFS)  6997 MB (1975 MB free)
F: (NTFS)  7051 MB (6706 MB free)
I: (NTFS)  465.8 GB (114.3 GB free)
X: (NTFS)  1863.0 GB (1219.0 GB free)
Total Size  3492.2 GB (1681.8 GB free)



TL;DR : Don't get screwed out of your hard earned cash buying or building a new PC.
Read up on current standards by going to http://www.tigerdirect.com or http://www.newegg.com

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Multiple Online Identity group

Maybe you are thinking James Bond, or Jason Bourne, well.... not really.
Having multiple identities can help you organize your online life properly.
I recommend at least two email addresses, one for garbage that doesn't matter, and one for important stuff like business and school. The garbage account is used to get accounts at places you probably won't go back to. You can have both accounts feed into an email client, that way you only have to check your email at one place. Another  concept to think about is walling off your accounts by having different password groups, just in case someone fools you into feeding their keylogger, you can slow the damage done to your accounts.

TL;DR use at least two different email addresses, and different sets of passwords to increase security.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Data Backups.... Do you make them?

Backing up your data is very important, and most people will just procrastinate on the matter until its too late.

Backing up your data is easier than you think, and a small investment of time will keep you from ripping your hair out when your device decides its time to quit.

I can't think of a better example than myself. I am an IT student at a local college, that means Word documents, Powerpoints, txt files with notes in them, visual basic code, and other stuff like digital copies of teacher handouts.
I carry an 8GB flash drive almost everywhere I go, and it has my entire college career on it. Old stuff, new stuff, it doesn't matter, because I rest easy when the data is on hand.
Everyday when I get home, I plug in my flash drive, and right click my college folder, and tell it to go to my documents, both on my Big Rig, and on my netbook.
this is my third flash drive. I've lost one at school, and another to the washing machine at home.
I always have a spare on hand, even if it is smaller than 8GB, so that I can recover from what would normally be a disaster without much trouble at all. that kind of data integrity is a must have for a student.

Lets say your backups are of data for a business....
For example, you and three others have spent the last two weeks using adobe to take footage of an event from three different sources, and a dedicated audio track to make a DVD.
But a hard drive has decided its done, and takes all that work with it, all those Man-hours spent, just to be wasted.

Get an external Hard drive, and some blank DVDs, and make sure that the chaotic world of technology doesnt catch you with your pants down.

Enough of this long winded rant.
TL;DR : Don't be lazy. Backup your data now for peace of mind later.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Onion Router Project, (an anonymity protocol)

My first post will talk of my amazement with The Onion Routing Project (TOR).
In such a prevalent age of technology, we see more and more of an impact of it on our daily lives.
When dealing with something that important, it is a good idea to implement security measures.
Perhaps you want to voice an opinion on something and fear recourse from doing such, whether you live in a free country or not, TOR may be an answer to the problem of non-anonymity.

TOR provides a method to hide you from a censoring or oppressing power by not showing your IP address.
My understanding is that it operates much like a chain of proxies, and it would take extreme lengths of work to find you, since basically the entire network would have to collude to reveal you.

If you would like such added security, or have any questions go to: http://www.torproject.org/  to learn more.

Should you obtain TOR, and use Mozilla Firefox as your web-browser, check out this handy add-on:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torbutton/

Greetings

This is me getting my foot in the door on blogging. Maybe its because everyone else is doing it, maybe its because I'm bored. More posts will follow in the future.