Chapter 6

A local area network (LAN) is made up of at least two or more computers connected together in a small area, usually to share files, resources, and online access. For a computer to connect to this LAN network it must have a network interface card (NIC). This NIC connects to a hub. This hub then connects to your modem. If you want a wired network you have to connect your computers to your hub by using an Ethernet cable. If you want a wireless LAN network you need a wireless access point. This peer to peer LAN connection is a inexpensive networking choice for a small business or home but, becomes impractical when connecting more than just a few computers. So when you have more than a few computers you need a client/server network. This type of LAN can support more data, provide network maintenance tools, and has more security features. 

Sources

http://www.hp.com/sbso/productivity/howto/wireless_lan/do_it.html

http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/local-area-network

Digital Portfolio Outline

The career I would like to pursue is graphic design. The programs I will use are InDesign, CMYK, Photoshop, Microsoft office, html, fireworks, Dreamweaver, flash, and action script. The program I will use to create a website will be circlepad.com. It has a really easy to use client for creating a website. The responsibility of a graphic designer is to produce graphics, sketches, layouts, templates, themes, typography for merchandising and promotions. I intend on showcasing those skills with my digital portfolio. 

Chapter 5

When browsing websites on the internet one of the most important things you want to make sure of is the site’s credibility. It’s especially important when you are searching for health issues; this information has to be accurate. The things you look for are identifying the author or sponsoring organization and then determining if the content on the site is presented timely and objective. Another way you can distinguish a good site from a bad one is by looking for sites with certain symbols that mean the information on the sites meet the quality standards.

Online banking allows people to save time by using the internet. Banks that offering online banking are known as a brick-and-click business. Banking online allows you to pay your bills, view account balances, transfer funds, order checks, change personal information, and almost anything else. One of the concerns with online banking is security. Online banks use the most sophisticated security technologies to protect your transactions and information. Paying bills online is very common and convenient, instead of getting mail from your physical address, you can just log onto the internet from anywhere and pay them. 

My PLN

I plan on building my PLN around graphic design by using web 2.0 tools. I have subscribed to a few blogs of established graphic designers, firms, and people like me. For the blogs that I have subscribed to I am able to read them with Google reader. These blogs provide me with important and sometimes personal information about graphic design. I also plan on being more active on social networking sites such as twitter, facebook, and YouTube. Creating an e-profile is very important especially with graphic design. On twitter I’m following many designers and firms. I will also start posting the projects I’m working. With facebook I could add friends and build connections with people I know that are involved with graphic design. Hopefully with these networking sites I will also come across some job opportunities for the future. On YouTube I could upload video tutorials of things I’ve learned about graphics and design. I will also keep my bookmarks on a social bookmarking site such as diigo and delicious. On these sites I will be able to share my links and view links to others libraries that I have subscribed to.

Chapter 5 - Portals

When using the internet people most commonly use a web portal as their home page. To make a portal your homepage all you have to do is change the settings of the browser you use. There are many different kinds of portals. They can be a horizontal portal, vertical portal, general consumer portal, or a industry portal. A horizontal portal is a consumer portal that you are able to customize to meet your specific needs and interests. An example of a horizontal portal would be My MSN or My Yahoo. A general consumer portal gives the user a wide range of content that commonly includes search tools, reference tools, current weather and news, and usually an email account to go with it. Since these portals offer such a large range of content they appeal to a very large audience. A vertical portal is usually used when someone wants to know more about a specific interest. For example if someone is interested in information about cancer they could use the National Cancer Institute portal. A industry portal is a portal that can be used as a market space. Most industry portals give the specific industries' information, links, and advertising.

SL - Blog Entry 3

During the final phase of the project we found out what editing software was best for both audio and video. We had to do the voice overs during this phase which turned out to be easier then expected. Were not the best actors so we had fun with it. We also learned that it was tough aligning the voice tracks with the video tracks. We also added some special effects and credits. The credits were easy to add, but the special effects and sounds took some time. Looking back on this project I learned that it's sometimes harder to work in a group. What I learned that I found most useful was knowledge of the different video recording/ voice recording/ movie editing software.

SL - Blog Entry 2

During the second phase of the project thinking of the storyline took a long time. We needed to find out the setting, the dialogue, and what we were going to wear/props we were holding. Even though the dialogue was the hardest part Jeff was really enthusiastic and had some great ideas. Our story was intended to be a comedic horror type genre. Since we were using second life it’s hard to make something actually look scary so we thought adding some funny dialogue would provide enough comic relief to make the machinima look interesting. The jobs were Jeff, Elena, and Joe were to create the storyboard and do the voice overs. Jeff and Elena edited the movie. Joe recorded the movie. Then all of us did some screen acting.

SL - Blog Entry 1

During the first phase of the project I learned which recording software worked best. Also when recording we found it was best to look at things from the mouselook view perspective. I also found out that its easy to find a good setting using by using the destination guide. It is harder to find a perfect setting since you can't own a house and its hard to build new things. Another thing that became a problem was other people around us talking and for one scene whenever a zombie or dog bit someone it would spam the chat box.

Social Media

Social media is online tools that let people collaborate, communicate, and share content/ideas over the internet. Web based discussion groups and newsgroups are a place where people with similar interests can express their thoughts and opinions to a network of people that they probably would never would have met in person. Text messaging allows people to send short messages usually containing text, audio, or video from their cell phones. Some service providers allow the user to send a webpage to someone using a multimedia messaging service. One of the earliest forms of chat was Internet relay chat (IRC), which was a text-based communications tool. When you connect to an IRC network, you can choose from a list of the available channels on the network that you can join to chat with friends. Blogging is becoming more popular and is used as an online tool for sharing your opinions and ideas to a certain audience. Micro blogging is basically blogging to a private audience. It is used mainly by businesses to inform their customers of new offers and services. It can also be used to give status updates to only your close friends and not to everyone that would normally read the updates. The way social networking online works is when you join the site you create a profile that describes yourself. Then you add other people from that site to your network, and then your network grows larger as your friends connect with new friends and then they connect to their friends.

Harmful Emails

Since email is so popular it is the main method used for spreading computer viruses and worms. The ways these are spread are through the email’s attachments. These attachments can be very misleading so if you’re suspicious or don’t have a good security system you definitely shouldn’t run it. The way a worm works is when it’s in your system it is able to self replicate, these worms can send emails to addresses that they acquire from the computer its infecting, and their file is usually around 150KB in size. An email virus is usually some sort of computer code that when activated will have a very harmful effect on your computer. Sometimes these viruses are even distributed by email worms. Some of the harmful effects would be they can corrupt/delete data, steal data, use your computer to harm a website. They can also destroy your reputation if the virus gets into your address book and forward itself to people you know. Some viruses that place a Trojan horse on your computer could also let the person who wrote the virus hijack your computer and use it. A Trojan horse is a form of malware that usually appears as a useful application, but is very malicious. I know there are three different types of Trojans, they can be a keylogger, backdoor, or a IRC Trojan. Unlike a worm a Trojan does not replicate. There are also two distinct parts to a Trojan the client and the server. Keyloggers are used to give the hacker your passwords. Remote access ones (backdoor) will allow the person to have total control of the person’s computer. A IRC Trojan uses the computer as a botnetwork that is controlled by IRC. I personally have never had any problems with any viruses or worms. Also I must say email attachments are not the only way you can get one of these you have to be careful what you download and be careful with removable media since they are usually not scanned. To prevent these things you need a good anti-virus progam, a good firewall, isolate any infected computer, consistently update your anti-virus programs, and scan any email attachment. The anti-virus I use right now is Norton anti-virus and the firewall I use is Zone Alarm. These are two programs I highly recommend. A cheaper but still highly effective alternate I recommend is Kaspersky.

Here are some of the settings I have. Norton is very customizable.

A Sudden Crossover