What More I Would Like to Learn

　It was when I was 9 that my father bought a PC. As I use it, I have got knowledge about computers. In addition, I take the lecture of computers at NIC, and I learned various functions of computers from Mr. Poza. Although I have done those things, I still have a lot of things I do not know.

　Among them, I would like to learn about Mac in particular. I learned the basic information of Mac from the lecture, but I would like to know more about it. I will buy a Mac computer next year for my overseas life, so I would like to learn how to use it. Although I know differences between Windows and Macintosh, I do not know the way of setup, even how to start. Now I realize that I should get practical knowledge. In addition, my father will not come with me to the U.S., so I want to use it perfectly. Therefore, I would like to learn about Mac computers.

　Another thing I would like to learn more is about HTML. I started to use it before the lecture, so I know how to write it a bit. Then I became able to use it basically. However, I would like to know it more deeply. For example, I am glad if I can master CSS. Then I want to be a HTML master!

Viral Video

　Actually, I do not know what VIRAL VIDEO is at all. So first, I tried to guess the meaning of this word. According to my dictionary, “viral” means to have something to don with a VIRUS. I become confused more because I could not imagine how videos relate to a virus. Does a video have certain virus that is bad for computers like an e-mail with computer virus? Finally, I gave up thinking about VIRAL VIDEO for myself.
　Then I tried to look into this term on the Internet. As a result, a VIRAL VIDEO seems to become known to people through the Internet by e-mail, blogs, or other media. Now I could realize why this word “viral” is used for videos; those video would spread like actual virus, so they are called VIRAL VIDEOs. Because people can watch video clip easily, a lot of videos are shared through the Internet. In fact, there are many websites that enable people to share those videos. For example, you can watch various viral videos if you go there; http://www.ifilm.com/channel/viralvideo If you are confused because of too may videos, and you want to watch popular one, you can find by going here; http://viralvideochart.com/
　In addition, some firm started to take advantage of viral videos. Unilever, which is a major company, created a viral video for advertisement and uploaded it onto the You Tube. It seems to have been televised so many times successfully. The means of advertising may be changed dramatically in the future.
　Anyway, VIRAL VIDEO is the term that is used for well-known video clips shared on the Internet.

What Will Computers be Like in the Future?

We can dream of computers’ future as I hope. Just dreaming would not be limited. The topic of this week is “What Will Computers be Like in the Future?” Therefore, I will talk about the future of computers with my hope.

First of all, it is a reasonable possibility; computers, especially laptop computers, will be smaller and thinner. Because I have seen a lot of things become smaller and thinner as an improvement, I can predict this situation easily. If computers become smaller and thinner, it will be easy to carry them anywhere we like. However, in my opinion, desktop computers do not need to be smaller because they are not required to be portable. They should be powerful rather than be smaller. Anyway computers may be smaller and thinner in the future.

Another possibility I hope is that computers will be wireless. Of course, I do not know how to achieve it, but I want them to be wireless. There is a desktop computer in my house, and it uses a lot of cords to work satisfactorily. I usually use the desktop computer itself, a printer, a MO, a tablet, and a scanner together, so I automatically need a large number of cords. It sometimes annoys me by taking a lot of outlets. Therefore, I hope computers will be wireless in the future.

In addition, computers will be able to work without emitting heat. I know there is no ginger that they emit heat, but I am in trouble especially in summer because of their heat; I sweat from every pore, and I have to take a bath soon after using computers. Thus, we need to make computers work without producing heat. I believe that it might come true in the future.

Recent Computer News

I'm interested in the news about Windows Vista, which is the latest version of Microsoft's OS. According to the news, it will be on sale next year; Windows Vista for business will be on sale in this month. Although I would like to use Mac rather than Windows now, I should know both in detail; therefore, I care about it.
Recently, the price of each type of Windows Vista was announced to public on October 26th. It said that there were 4 types of windows Vista, and each type had normal type and version up type except that Windows Vista Home Premium had one more type; Windows Vista Ultimate, whose price was about 49,000 yen in normal and 32,000 yen in version up; Windows Vista Business, whose price was about 38,000 yen in normal and 26,000 yen in version up; Windows Vista Home Premium whose price was about 30,000 yen in normal and 20,000 yen in version up and about 18,000 yen in academic; Windows Vista Home Basic, whose price was about 26,000 yen in normal and 14,000 yen in version up.
My father will buy Windows Vista, but I don’t know which type he will buy; hence, I will talk with him about future of our PC.

What is "Net Nuetrality"?

Do you know what topic is in the spotlight now not only in the United States, but also in the world through the Internet as the political problem?

That is "Net Nuetrality."

I have never heard it until I searched, but I finally realized that this problem was very close to my life as an Internet user.

First of all, "Net Nuetrality" is the idea that broadband providers should deal with all contents on the Internet fairly without any discrimination. In addition, according to Google, which agrees to Net Nuetrality, Internet service provider should make sure that Internet users have an equal opportunity to access every content. It means that principle of Net Nuetrality will be broken if Internet service provider puts certain contents above others. In other words, it is not forgivable to cut in a long line of people who are waiting to get some tickets for a long time by paying extra money.

Let's think about the situation that there is no Net Nuetrality on the Internet.
One situation I come up with is that only people who pay much money can access certain contents that have high quality or view important information. It might seem overdone case, but there is possibility to happen.

However, in my opinion, new products or service will not be born anymore if Net Nuetrality is completely applied because everything is treated equally. It will not create benefit to give new products and service.

Finally, it is very hard for me to understand what Net Nuetrality is, but I could feel how hot this topic is.

Introduce 3 Good Web Sites

Today, I will introduce three websites that I recommend you to go.

First website is You Tube, which has so many videos that people upload. We can not only watch those videos freely, but also upload videos if you register with You Tube as a member. Although there are some serious problems such as piracy, this site could be worth looking in because you can watch any kind of videos you are interested in. In fact, if you go here, you will be surprised at a lot of categories and many many videos; therefore, I am sure that you will be able to find the very video for which you seek. Thus, I strongly recommend You Tube.

Second website I would like to introduce is My Space, which is kind of Mixi. If you sign up and create your private community, you can make friends with your friends’ friends and have communication with them. I do not enter My Space yet, but I am planning to do it for the foreseeable future.

Third website is Don’t Date Him Girl. You may have a question that what kind of website it is; the answer would be just as you imagine that it is for women. There are a lot of photographs of men who have hurt women before. Women upload photographs and real names of those men who hurt them onto this site. Articles about those men’s outrageous actions says “Be careful not to date him.” I usually just read these articles and never upload any man onto it!

I go to these websites to be relaxed, enjoy, and get information. I hope that they would be your favorite website as well. Please enjoy them!!

Computer Gifts I Would Buy for Friends & Family

I would buy an external hard disc drive for my father as a present. He often said that he wanted it because it was very easy to install it in both the desktop computer and the laptop computer. In addition, it will enable him to change the data in the old computer on that in a new one when he buys a new computer. According to his words, one of the most attractive functions of the external hard disc drive is that it can back up the data safely. If you back up the data on the internal hard disc drive, there is a possibility of loosing the data when the blackout or the thunderbolt happens; therefore, he wants the external hard disc drive. However, he also said that he cannot buy it because it was too expensive. Actually, it costs over 100,000 yen at least to buy a NEC-made external hard disc drive. He likes NEC-made products, so I would like to give him them. He has worked hard for about 30 years to bring up my older sister, my younger brother, and me; thus, I can decide to give a computer gift to my father without hesitating. If I buy an external hard disc drive, I will go to Yamada Denki, which is near to my house, or other stores that is located in Akihabara, where I can go easily because of Tsukuba Express. I guess it is better to go to Akihabara because there will be a lot of stores that treat computers. I hope that my father will be happy if I give him a computer gift.

What Is "Social Engineering"?

First of all, there is a surprising definition of social engineering. That is hacking; someone enters other’s computer or the network without permission. However, social engineering is a little different from general hacking. Usually, hackers go in to other people’s computers by using information and communications technology, but “social” engineering is done in the real world by using “social” means like the art of conversation, eavesdropping, or peeking; therefore, in a sense, hackers can get the information without computers. To get the secret information that is personal and important for keeping the security safe such as password, hackers catch managers or users of the network off their mental guard.

Then there are three examples of how they get the information; telephones, a peek, and trash boxes. The first example is using a telephone. It is one of the most representative and oldest ways. First, they get the user ID of other people; then they make a pretense to be them and call the manager to get the password, even they sometimes pretend to be the manager and take the information from users directly. Another example is peeking that is called “shoulder hacking” because they get the information by looking over someone’s shoulder. In addition, picking up the information from trash boxes is often used for the primary step to hack. In this case, hackers make use of people’s habit; people usually throw the material that has the information about the setting such as server and router, the structure of network, IP address, password, and so on away. Thus, Hackers take it and use it.

In short, social engineering means cheating people of the important information without harming computers.

What I Want to Learn about Computers

At first, I thought I would like to be familiar with HTML because I did not understand the meaning of each code although I could use it for writing my blog. I have been attracted by HTML since I saw it for the first time because the code of HTML, which I could not read at all, made web page beautiful easily. Of course, I am interested in it, but I have another thing most interesting for me. That is Macintosh. I planned to buy Windows before the lecture that Mr. Poza showed how wonderful Macintosh was to the class, but now I change my mind. I would like to get knowledge about Macintosh and buy it as my partner of overseas school life. Although I already got a little knowledge about it, I am worried about how to customize it; thus, I want to know more detail about the system of Macintosh. In addition, I would like to major in graphic design, so I realize it is better for me to use Macintosh. I will be able to decide to buy Macintosh if I become familiar with Macintosh; therefore, I want to learn about Macintosh. I make up my mind to a Macintosh maniac like my teacher Mr. Poza.

My History with Computers

Although it is usual in these days that children use computers, there were few children who used computers in my childhood; hence, my history with computers seems longer than others.
It was when I was an elementary student that my father bought a computer and told me that I could use the computer freely. I became absorbed in using the computer immediately. First of all, I learned how to use the Internet; for example, to communicate with people who I did not meet in person was so interesting for me that I often chatted through the special Internet program. Then I came to be interested in drawing with the special drawing software when I was a junior high school student. Because my father understood my great interest in using computers, he gave me the drawing software and the pen tab. I started to use the Adobe Photoshop Elements just for my fun, so I have not mastered that software yet; however, I can create simple composite photographs. In fact, I gave a speech about computer graphics in the class at first semester with a composite photograph.
In short, my history with computers was mainly fostered thanks to my father’s support; also, I often ask him whenever I am in the trouble with computers. Thus, my history with computers may last by getting his help although we will live in different countries next year.