File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Blog Post

File Transfer Protocol Blog Post Question

Create a new blog post answering the following questions. After you publish your blog post, take a new blog snapshot, update your changelog file, create a zip file and publish the zip file in your BC web/ftp space (same as last week).

1) WHAT is FTP?
Protocol is agreed upon methods of communication used by computers. It does not make a difference what type of computer, software or operating system is used; users will be able to communicate once the same protocols are used. Some examples of common protocols are File Transfer Protocol (FTP), http Protocol, SSH (Secure Shell), and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). These protocols are all bound to specific ports (i.e., logical communication lines inside computers); File Transfer Protocol being bound to port 21. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is an easy, safe and efficient way of transferring digital documents/files/information over a network. It is simply a computer loaded with appropriate software that enables it to function as a server. An FTP server can be set up on your desktop by using appropriate FTP client applications software such as WinSCP, Fetch, Cora, WS_FTS which allows you to connect to an FTP server. Information can then be uploaded or downloaded depending on FTP server set-up. There are 2 ways to login to FTP server – the secure way when login is required or via anonymous access. If uploading to server is involved set up should require a login for security reasons. Many companies that offer software downloads allows users to login anonymously – they only allow downloads, not uploads, and thus a login is not required as traffic is only going one way.


2) WHY use FTP?
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is an easy, safe and efficient way of transferring digital documents/files/information over a network. It is simply a computer loaded with appropriate software that enables it to function as a server. It is not hard to setup an FTP server on your desktop which in turn can be used as an effective way of exchanging data within or outside a company. It is an efficient way for either downloading or uploading information – using some simple commands such as Get (download) or Put (upload) on Command Line or simply using Drag & Drop features with GUI (Graphical User Interface). It is also easy to Change Directory or Get Directory Listing (CD and DIR) on Command Line or simply by click/double clicking on GUI. With commands that are easy to remember/use and safety guaranteed, FTP has become one of the most commonly used protocols.


3) What type of application do you need to connect to an FTP server?
There are a number of FTP client applications like WinSCP, Fetch, Cora, WS_FTS, that allows you to connect to an FTP server. If you do not have any of these applications you can use the Command Line FTP client in Windows instead.



4) What connection info or credentials do you need to connect to an FTP server?

FTP address: Host name or IP address (host computer)

Set to Protocol FTP (which sets port at 21)

Username and Password

{Host name or IP address -directory to upload to server computer}

OPEN SOURCE ASSIGNMENT

For this assignment, we have been asked to briefly summarize an Interview by Lenny T. Mendonca & Robert Sutton from The McKinsey Quarterly with Mitchell Baker, Chair-person and former CEO of Mozilla Firefox. It is estimated that Mozilla, the developer of the open-source Firefox Web Browser, has probably more experience in this area than many companies combined so it is interesting to hear what insights were offered on this ever increasing topic of open source innovation. Mitchell Baker has been with Mozilla from the start and shows how a Company can become more successful depending on volunteers for software coding, product development, promotion/distribution than a traditional company using just its own programmers /developers/debuggers/distributors, etc.
First, we get a quick biography on Mitchell Baker. I thought it interesting how her background in Law greatly benefits her career because in this type of business of open-sourcing, many legal areas present themselves, such as intellectual property rights, ownership, responsibility of employees/volunteers, process management, etc. Prior to working in Mozilla, Baker was in fact a software lawyer at Netscape Communications which developed the original commercial Web browser. Her effective management skills quickly put her in the position of leadership and she continued in this role when Netscape was taken over by AOL. She led the spin-off to Mozilla and over the years from her role as “chief lizard wrangler” to CEO she helped “define the legal and functional model that allows an open-source community and a corporation to share responsibility for product development while managing the project and maintaining the organization’s momentum – not to mention its financial viability.” Not an easy task, one would quickly agree!

Baker talks about the many benefits of an open internet and why the system of open-sourcing works for them. She claims they would never have been as successful without it. She goes on to say that keeping a company healthy and growing requires constant innovation, reinvention and fine-tuning of ideas. Jokingly she says that for entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs there is no need to provide open source code to the public. Jobs, who after dropping out of college, started making & selling computers, and became a multimillionaire overnight. He consistently came up with great ideas and did not have to look outside of his own brilliant mind to keep things moving forward. Baker indicates that people like Jobs are few and far between and so for most companies having to come up with entrepreneurial ideas encourages companies to let others think outside the box for them. Recognizing that everybody does things differently opens up an avenue of opportunity and availing of this opportunity has allowed Mozilla Firefox stay on the cutting edge, well able to compete with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Instead of 100 employees putting their heads together Baker says why not have thousands brainstorming and putting their pens/brains to work for your company.

Baker seems to know just the right amount of control Mozilla can afford to give up and acknowledges that keeping that delicate balance can be a challenge. Though it may not appear that there are layers of control she admits that behind the scenes there are some necessary control. In fact, she states that there is extreme discipline needed when volunteers are touching code that goes into Firefox but those disciplines are not required to the same level in most other areas, such as; building extensions/new products or fixing bugs. In fact, these areas can be quite relaxed to encourage people’s input. Apparently, most people are just so grateful to be acknowledged in bringing the company this far and are just happy to “own” the product in the emotionally committed sense, rather than in the legal or financial sense. The balance has to be right in maintaining control and letting entrepreneurial/ motivated people run with their ideas. It is important to find people who care and Baker claims it is crucial that companies are truthful about intentions and mission and that open/honest communication is critical every step of the way. It is also important to figure out what input the company actually needs and then communicates same to the public. She identifies Mozilla’s double mission of keeping the internet open and safe, and also building collaborative participation. For a browser company like Mozilla where innovations are needed to keep ahead of competition, open sourcing was the best way to go, Baker adds. And for companies deciding to work with open-sourcing Baker offers a word of advice on how to fix problems. The quicker you can get back on track the better and she condones punishments and slaps on the wrist claiming that they defeat the whole purpose and could quickly kill the collaborative community. Companies should be grateful for the volunteer’s time and effort and do not want to discourage same in any shape or form. When problems do need to be investigated/addressed, great pains are taken to get to the truth of the matter quickly and Mozilla tries very hard to attract unnecessary attention to the matter. It is clear from her interview how she believes that open-source will only work when a two-way street is in operation and how both streets are equally important. Baker acknowledges that the open source system can not work for all companies, particularly companies that need to own and control, and most often monetary endeavors on internet do not work well under open-sourcing. She also realized that many people are not cut out to work in such a see-through organization, that “life in the fishbowl” is just not for everyone.

My Thoughts on Open-Sourcing: Now that I’ve learned lots more about open-sourcing in this class, I think it is a great idea. I realize that it is not for every company/person as the Mozilla article pointed out but for those it will work for, what a smart business decision! We all know especially in the technology world how competitive it is out there and how there can only be a few great innovators but by people putting their heads together and building on one another ideas they can come up with collaborative ideas that would be inconceivable individual creations. We have often heard of the saying “Togetherness is strength” and in open sourcing it is clear to see the benefits of togetherness and collaboration. Many people just want to do the right thing and are just so happy if their ideas are acknowledged, in believing they are giving to a greater good, a greater world. If we believe in the idea of open sourcing but are not very creative technically there are other ways to contribute. Every time we choose to load and use an open source product we contribute. Every time we share information about open sourcing and make people aware of its existence and products, we contribute. By exploration, I’ve learned that the promise of open source is lower cost, improved quality, higher reliability, greater flexibility, an end to predator vendor lock-in, and the capability of producing a vibrant synergy among it’s participating community. I’m beginning to recognize open source products such as; Ubuntu, Google android operating system in T-mobile Gphone, Apache server, Open Office, Star Office, Linux programming, Mozilla Firefox Internet Browser and I’m looking forward to giving them a try. When next deciding to go on the Internet I’ll make a conscious decision to use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. And I too will feel that I am doing my part for the greater good. I also learned that there is a shortage of open source developers and that students with these skills on their resumes have great potential in the technological market. Maybe I should look into this a little further?

Opening things up give people a sense of hope. As Mitchell Baker states in her article, thousands of people flourished at the idea of opening up the internet – they were tired of it being closed especially those that felt they had something to contribute. Hope, acknowledgement, involvement, and praise are sometimes all people want as a thank-you for their contributions. Open sourcing gives people the right to use software in any way they wish which in turns helps to improve the quality of the product and it’s functionality and again brings with it this sense of hope.

Hardware Component - The Computer Mouse

In 1963 two very important things were created – me and the mouse! I had not thought the mouse was around as long as I’vebeen but when researching same, I discovered it has indeed. Douglas Engelbart, Stanford Research Institute, was the person who invented the mouse though poor Douglas never received any royalties as his patent ran out before it became an integral part of personal computers. He envisioned people holding the mouse in one hand and typing on a five key chord keyset with the other hand. It was called a mouse in that it resembled an actual mouse with the cord looking like a tail. Funny enough the cordless mouse of today without its “tail” is still called a mouse! Trackballs had been used previously to mouse devices and the first trackball is traced back to 1952 to three men Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff and Kenyon Taylor who invented a five-pin bowling ball to use on the Royal Canadian Navy DATAR system, part of a military secret. It was in 1981 that the first marketed integrated mouse accompanied the Xerox 8010 Star Information System and we have been introduced to many mice since then in many shapes and forms.

At the start it was mainly mechanical mouse devices as in the ball mouse, wheel mouse, color mouse and analog mouse. Then the computer industry progressed to offering optical mouse devices, which differs mainly from the mechanical mouse in that it “uses a light-emitting diode and photodiodes to detect movement relative to the underlying surface, rather than moving some of its parts, as in the mechanical mouse.” Infrared, Laser and Color are all example of different type of optical mice. The mouse most commonly used today with PC and Mac computers is a mixture of elements of both optical and mechanical. Other mouse devices that are worth a mention along the way are Inertial Mouse, 3D Mice, Double Mouse System, Tactile Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse, Typhoon Mouse, and Apple’s Mighty Mouse. I’m beginning to think that there are more mice of this kind than the animal version!

A mouse is used to control the position of the cursor on the monitor. A mouse is made up of a small jude held beneath users hands with one or more buttons. It has been the subject of great debate as to how many buttons a mouse should have. Up to 2005 Apple recommended just one single button as more user-friendly though many now agree that the three-button scrollmouse works best and is more precise. Gaming Companies prefer to add more buttons because players need easy and quick access to many functions, sometimes simultaneously. The regular mouse is capable of activating/initiating many functions on the computer. Clicking on the right or left button or moving the scroll wheel all initiate different functions. Sometimes it is necessary to click the mouse along with holding a key on the keyboard simultaneously to make specific functions happen. Other noted functions are its capability to drag and drop, move around text/images/graphics, point, scroll, select and highlight.

Other interesting factsI learned that there are two acceptable plurals in the Oxford Dictionary for computer mouse – one being computer mice the other computer mouses. Also, I learned that though Douglas Engelbart’s original mouse did not actually require a mousepad, most mouse devices run more efficiently when using a mouse-pad. And apparently some run most efficiently when using in addition mouse foot-covers, which I had never even heard of before. These are made of low-friction or polished plastic and enables the mouse to glide more smoothly on the mousepad. The best though most expensive in the market are teflon feet so for Christmas we have new mouse accessories to consider☺

Technology Assignment on Dr. Michael Russell, Boston College

When interviewing Associate Professor Michael Russell here in Boston College, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that he did not take his first computer class until Grade 11 in High School and did not become interested in technology until he was 22 years old. I immediately thought of other late starters such as Greg Gorman who did not pick up a golf club until he was 15 or the Irish tenor Ronan Tynan whose singing career only started after age 35. This just goes to show as Mike has indicated that “it’s never too late to try your hand at something new.” In fact the subjects that interested him in school in his home town Rochester, New York were not technology but history and social studies. He went on to major in US History in Brown University with a focus on US Foreign Policy. It was only after college at age 22 when he was working for a financial consulting firm and had to build a large model to help an institution with long term planning that he developed a keen interest in technology and realized he had a flair for same. The interesting thing is that the technology he learnt was mostly self-taught, especially in his earlier years.

He completed both his Masters and Ph.D. Degrees in Boston College; his Masters in Secondary Education (1994) and his Ph.D. in Educational, Research, Measurement and Evaluation/ERME (1999). It was when completing his Ph.D. as a Graduate Assistant and later as a Research Associate that he became associated with the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy (CSTEEP) and found a valuable mentor there in the area of technology/ testing and student drawings by the name of Professor Walt Haney. Mike’s early research has led to innovations in the marketplace, particularly around computer-based testing and accommodations. Now a Senior Research Associate in CSTEEP, Director of inTASC (Technology and Assessment Study Collaborative) in BC, and Associate ERME/LSOE Professor since March 2005, Mike’s research interests lie mainly at the intersection of technology, assessment and learning. In summary his technological research “include applications of technology to testing; relationships among school district support of technology; classroom use of technology; and impacts of technology on students and their learning.”

Mike has written numerous articles on these related subjects and directs several projects in CSTEEP including some which are well publicized such as: eLearning for Educators; JTLA (Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment); The Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative; Diagnostic Geometry Assessment/DGA; Optimizing the Impact of Online Professional Development/OPD; An Alpha Smart for Each Student; Diagnostic Algebra Assessment; Talking Tactile Tablet; and numerous smaller scale projects. Let me expand on a few of the above to understand the scope of these projects. The primary aim of the eLearning for Educators Study conducted throughout eight states is to evaluate the impact of online professional development on both teacher quality but more importantly on students’ academic achievement. This study is still underway, starting 3 years ago and reports will be broadcast next year and already anxiously awaited. The blind and visually impaired benefited when the computer-based Talking Tactile Tablet (TTT) was examined as a test accommodation in one of Mike’s projects, taking the TTT’s original use of map/sign reading up a notch. Mike has also developed a Diagnostic Geometry Assessment Tool that can be given from any internet connected computer and is capable of given immediate feedback to teachers on the understanding their students have of Geometry and the problems/ misconceptions that are holding them back.

I enjoyed my conversation with Mike and found his technological research interesting.

Sarah Palin's "Fishy" Email Hack

Using Google News http://news.google.com/ I read a technology related article written by Mark Hachman in PC Magazine that interested me entitled “No Indictment in Palin Email Hack” dated September 24, 2008. We had discussed this a little bit in class the day the incident happened but I missed the news that night and the night after and basically missed out on the details of the whole episode. So when I saw this article on Google news I used this as an opportunity to research the incident as I was interested to learn how a high-profiled person’s email could in fact be hacked. I thought if the email account of Republican Vice Presidential hopeful Governor Sarah Palin could be broken into, what hope was there for the rest of us. The article explained how it was her personal rather than state email account that was infiltrated, her yahoo account, gov.palin@yahoo.com to be precise. The article itself gave mostly post event news of the story. It explained how David Kernell, a University of Tennessee student and son of Tennessee Democrat representative Mike Kernell, had not been indicted as expected for committing the offence. Mark Hachman stated how the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported the day before that “a federal grand jury had wrapped up hearings after failing to return an indictment.” That paper hinted that there would be subsequent Grand Juries because Kernell was still being investigated by the FBI.

To learn more about how the email was hacked I could have entered one of the links offered on this page but since we were asked to do some additional research by using the conventional Google search engine, I used that instead. Through various effective search words like “Palin and email”, “Palin and hacked” and “Sarah Palin’s email” I found several articles that answered all my questions and gave me a detailed account of all aspects of the story. The best article, in that it provided how the job was actually done, was an article written by Brian Heater on September 18, 2008 simply entitled “How Sarah Palin’s Email was Hacked.” Apparently the hack was a simple hack in that it did not need sophisticated technical expertise. Kernell successfully navigated through Yahoo’s password reset process.
Yahoo uses a password reset feature which makes use of personal data to gain access to an account. This would work ok for most of us but not so well for those in public office where personal information is public knowledge or can at least be found pretty easily on the internet. It only took Kernell 45 minutes to get access to Sarah Palin’s email account. All he had to do was find out Palin’s birthdate, zipcode, and research where she met her spouse which turned out the be Wasilla High. Between Google and Wikipedia’s research engines he reset Palin’s security questions, renamed her password to popcorn, and entered her account. What he found was five screen shots of email accounts (including some emails to/from Alaskan Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, staffer Ivy Frye, and Amy McCorkell/ Governor’s Advisory board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse), two digital photos of Sarah Palin’s family, and an address book. 4Chan’s “random” /b/board then sent the documents to Wilileaks, which is a “whistleblower” website that allows users to anonymously publish sensitive documents. Wilileaks then made the data available on its web site via zip files.

In another article, Chloe Albanesius gave us the reasoning behind Kernell’s “investigation” in the first place. Sarah Palin had already come under fire for allegedly using her personal Yahoo account to conduct business matters. This is forbidden by law for accountability and security reasons. Andree McLeod, former vice chair of the Alaskan Republican party had already requested Palin to release more than 1,100 emails that she withheld from a public records request. So Kernell decided to take the law into his own hards. “Rubico” Kernell’s alias, was hoping to dig up some major dirt on Palin. Eric Blair, in his article in eFlux Media dated 9/19/08, stated how this was rather ironic. Kernell in his hopes to dig up “dirt” on Palin went about it in a way that was far from “clean.” Now Sarah Palin’s two email accounts have also been “cleaned” – in fact they have been deleted.

So after reading several articles I had the full Palin Email Hack story!

Assignment 1 Collaborative Computing

What I find interesting about this data?

What I find most interesting about this data is the Sales Information figures for the number of XBox 360 sold as of August 2007 compared to the number of Play Station 3’s sold as of September 2007. The data says there were 17 million Xbox 360 sold compared to 5.6 million Play Station 3 sold. I would have expected this data to have been reversed and the higher figure of 17 million more like # of Play Station 3’s sold.

The reason I was surprised was because Play Station 3 used the Blu-Ray Format (made by Sony) and they won the Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD war in May (2008) the following year. In fact, Toshiba who made the HD-DVD’s stopped making them once Warner Bros. decided to produce their films only in Blu-Ray format. It had been a close war up to May 2008 but once Warner Bros made their decision, it meant that three quarters of new film releases would be available on Blu-ray discs only. Warner dropped Toshiba’s HD-DVD format and started selling high definition DVDs only in Sony’s Blu-Ray format. Leader of the US box office receipts in 2007 Time Warner joined Disney, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Fox in backing Blu-ray exclusively. Individual sales figures of both players in the end of 2007 reflect the way the war went 8 months later in that over three Blu-Ray players were sold for every one HD-DVD player. I would have thought by Sept 2007 Play Station 3’s #’s would have been closer, if not higher than Xbox 360 given the fact that 8 months later Toshiba, the makers of HD-DVD players/format felt forced to stop making HD-DVD discs.

I was also surprised at how high the # of iPods sold were as of Oct 2007. They were over 5 times higher than combined sales figures of XBOX 360 and Play Stations 3 given a few months earlier (17 million Xbox 360 plus 5.6 million Play Stations 3 for a combined figure of 22.6 million). What does this say? That listening to music is more popular than playing with these entertainments centers………that audio is more popular than video!

I liked the Video entitled “Creative Xfi dock review” – shows how simple and inexpensive ($399 with Dock) it is to display media and music video from iPod on TV. Then instead of using the iPod control wheel we can now use the TV Remote easier/more flexible controls.


What does Comcast and Apple’s Ipods have to do with the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray War?

With the latest technology, music on IPODS can be presented visually at same time –e.g. like what we saw on the dock station video. So they have to use disc format to show the video and here is where Companies like Comcast and Apple etc., can get into wars such as the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray War. Apple is supporter of Blu-Ray so would go with Blu-Ray format is my guess. But is that the best way to go? Comcast with its new broadband Internet Technology called “Wideband” could blow Apple and Blu-Ray out of the water in using Internet rather than discs to present videos/media. And iPod videos can now be projected onto the interior of a pair of glasses with built in earbuds. This sounds great especially if you intend lying down listening to iPod but in my opinion it may be taking it too far- how can we walk around and watch video at the same time?


How are all of the products below related?

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are both video game entertainment centers and are each other’s main competitors in this market. Blu-ray (Sony) and HD-DVD (Toshiba) were rival incompatible formats until Blu-Ray won the war as major US film studios backed the Blu-Ray format. The end of the war meant people did not have to choose between Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players as Toshiba was forced out of the market. How these are connected is that PlayStation 3 had used the Blu-ray format while Xbox 360 relied on HD-DVD format. These are all related to visual presentation while the iPods are concerned with audio. They are related in that they are ways of presenting entertainment and it looks like they will be even more connected in the future as iPod makers are leaning towards adding much more visual appeal to their audio presentations.





Finally, research one of the following products in detail and explain the pros and cons in comparison to the other products below.

It would be hard to compare apples with oranges so in the interest of comparing similar products, I decided it was best to either compare the video game entertainment centers PlayStation 3 with XBOX 360; OR Blu-Ray player/format/disc versus HD-DVD player/format/disc. I choose to research the Blu-Ray player/format/disc and explained the pros and cons in comparison to the HD-DVD player/format/disc.


Pros of Blu-Ray compared to HD-DVD

Higher disc capacity - i.e. 25GB versus 15GB/single layer; 50GB versus 30GB dual layer; and 100GB versus 51GB/prototype quad layer.

Video Capacity higher (23 hours versus 13 hours) – Blu-Ray capable of holding much more data/video.

PlayStation 3 owners lucky in that machine can play Blu-Ray movies so capability of running greater # of movies etc, because Blu-Ray has support of 70 percent of movie studies. This is internally built in to PS3 and not like the external HD-DVD accessory sold separately for Xbox 360 users to play HD DVD discs.




Cons of Blu-Ray compared to HD-DVD

Blu-Ray players are more expensive than their HD-DVD counterparts ($499 plus for stand-alone Blu-Ray player or $400 for PS3 alone that can run Blu-Ray format compared to only $150 for HD-DVD stand alone players plus $130 for Xbox 360 accessories).

Blu-Ray discs also higher in price –thinner layered discs cost more to make/protect.

Tighter specification on HD DVD players means that all players have a more consistent feature set – requiring every player to include secondary audio and video decoders, 128MB of local storage and an Ethernet Jack. Blu-Ray buyers have had to struggle with confusing Blu-Ray hardware profiles which meant HD-DVD had an edge in terms of hardware.

And finally we have to address the problem of portability with Blu-Ray movies. The only way to play Blu-Ray movies is on a PS3 or standalone player. They will not work on your laptop unless you have super high-end laptop. And forget about bringing them along in your car. HD-DVD does not have as much of a portability problem with many HD-DVD players including standard-DVD version on same disc, thus making them much more portable.