L13/Operating System

1. An Operating System is a type of software?

• True

2. Operating systems control the loading of software applications onto a computer?

• True

3. All OSs offer use user preferences, allowing you to customize your computer?

• True

4. An Operating System prioritizes the tasks that a CPU does?

• True

5. The Following devices have an Operating System: Apple Ipod, Dell Laptop Computer, Nintendo Wii

• True

Job Shadowing

The day started out quite late, and I was so glad that happened as I got at least an hour or two more of sleep that I so crave for in a normal school weekday. After getting out of shower and eating breakfast, my dad dropped me straight at my Job shadowers house. Luckily, he was also getting out of his house at the same time, as soon as he saw our car he got off and shook hands with me and my dad, before I slowly went and sat in his car while he and my dad had a conversation about the future of the day. It was 9:00, and we had just started moving in the car, his name was Nouman Jafferz and he worked as apart of the Cisco/AT&T Partnership Router Protocols team which basically handled all the customer or premium support calls that came from AT&T workers who had problems with their routers. Cisco Website = http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/index.html    
                                                               
                                                    After we talked about his job for a while in the car, we reached his CISCO office which was a massive building, that housed up to about 6 buildings within it that each had different departments. His Office was in the Technical Support Building, and as soon as we got inside it we met many people through the lift who were Nouman uncles friends or colleagues that he had worked with before. After talking to many of them on why I was here, we entered the 4th floor which was where his office was located.

                                                   Once we entered his office or as they call it a cube, I saw three computer screens at least 10 feet above the ground that was connected to several other computers next to his cube. At first I thought it was so cool, but than thought about the reasoning and function behind why this was the way it was, and asked him, to which he didn't reply but showed me as he connected his Mac computer to the 3 computer screens as I realized that the reason they were there was so that their workers could do more than 1 or 2 tasks at the same time, or at-least communicate on one screen and work on the other. For example, he would text and message his other teammates throughout the country on once screen, work on the task given to him on the other two screens.

About 30-45 mins after we got in and he explained to me what he does and how his job works, he got a call from a customer named Donna, who was an AT&T worker that had some problems with the router in her office, and so she called Nouman who with his team spent atleast 30 mins trying to explain to her how to fix the router problem on slot 9.

After spending about 2 hrs on that call and how to solve the problem presented to him, he moved onto the simulation lessons that CISCO had assigned to all customers. The Simulation lessons were very interesting and unique in my perspective. They felt like lessons that you would take in middle or high school, but at the same time whenever they had questions the answers were quite to figure out, as the whole context of those situations depended a lot on the emotional and way you spoke to your customers. They had assigned him 4 modules with at least 10-15 lessons each to finish by Sunday. Once he completed about half of his modules, he dropped me home as I was extremely tired and exhausted after spending about 8 hours in an office room or more like a cube within an office environment.

Lesson 11/ The Internet

What is the Internet?

• The Internet is the world's largest WAN network that connects millions of smaller networks and computers across the world. The Internet is made up of everything you can find online such as web pages, emails, video games, messaging, research sites and multimedia sharing. The Internet has over 2 billion regular users, who use it on a day to day basis for work or for entertainment. The Internet was created in the early 1960s by  a US government research project for research, and high level military operations

What is a Protocol?

• Is basically a set of rules or procedures or a standard used to define methods of exchanging data over a computer network. Protocols are used because in order for computers or networks to exchange information there needs to be some sort of agreement on how each side of the transfer will send or receive it.  Protocols are usually established by international organizations that give a set of guidelines for network communications between computers. The most important protocol is the Open Systems Interconnection.

What is DNS?

• The DNS is the Domain Name System, which is like an equivalent to a phone book, as it maintains a directory of domain names and translates them to the Internet Protocol IP address. All the domain name servers across the Internet are gathered and organized together at the Central Registry, a lot of companies interact with the Central Registry regularly in order to get updated on the DNS information. The reason why people use the DNS is because its quite hard for regular people to remember the exact IP address every time they use the Internet

Explain what an ISP is and what it does?

• The ISP is the Internet Service Provider, that in basic terms helps individuals or other companies connect successfully to the Internet. The ISP was once signed up with, will give you an email address , username, password, software package and access to the phone numbers or telephone. The ISP will also give you a modem or server, that will provide internet connection for all the devices in your house or facility. In today's times people don't use ISP that often, as their cable subscribers often help you connect to the Internet.

What is a PING and Firewall?

• Ping is a networking utility program that tests whether your able to connect with the server or not. Pings usually send data packets to a server and if it receives the data packet back, than you have established an internet connection. People use the Ping test to check whether the Internet is connected to the network of access or not. Once you have access to the network, you need something to protect you from the threats outside such as hackers, viruses and worms that try to attack your computer. Firewall is what is needed which basically is a software program that helps identity hackers or protect you against viruses or worms. 

How Networks Link to the Internet?

• The Internet is made up of many smaller networks, which users set up in their own homes. These smaller networks connect to a larger network that is run by the ISP. The Internet Service Provider connects to the access points of other networks, which allow the data to run freely. Routers are responsible for moving data between networks or sections of a network. Other networks us the routers to talk to one another as if they were apart of the same network

What is an Internet Service Provider?

• The Internet Service Provider helps set up your internet connection, and once you sign up for the ISP you get a password, username, email and storage. The ISP service provider allows you to choose the kind of service would best suite what your looking for. Nowadays people don't use an ISP, as companies nowadays especially cable companies have found a way to include an ISP package along side their cable channels when your buying new channels or a TV

Connecting Your Computer to the Internet?

• They are multiple ways to connect to the Internet, all those methods involve the wot basic levels getting a modem and an ISP. Without the ISP or Modem you cannot access the Internet. If you have a broadband connection once your computer is plugged into a modem you don't need to connect to your ISP all the time. DSL connections use phone lines, and carry digital data at a higher frequency, so they you do not tie up the phone line. Cable connections work like DSL, other than the fact that they use the same coaxial lines that go to your television.

Making Presentations

3 goals of a presentation

• Inform
• Educate
• Persuade

3 ways the audience learns

• Seeing
• Hearing
• Doing

PowerPoint slideshows include:

• Texts
• Charts and Graphs
• Photos and Graphics
• Audio, Video and other sound

Rules for good presentations

• Keep slides simple and easy to read
• State your purpose
• Add images to support your points
• Relax and use a friendly speaking style
• Don't just read the slides to your audience

What kind of colors should you use to make slides easy to read

• Use light-colored backgrounds with dark text
• Use dark backgrounds with bright text

Large Fonts make slides easy to read

• Limit how much text you put on each slide
• Make the text clean and big

How to Organize your presentation effectively

• State your purpose: make it clear what you want the audience to know
• Present information in multiple ways
• End with a summary

Supporting Images - Photos, graphics and charts

• Keeps the audience interested
• Reinforce key messages
• Help Visual learners understand

Avoid cluttering your slides with images

• Avoid slide clutter
• Don't use too many colors

Relax and be Friendly

• Avoid reading your slides word for word
• Don't talk too fast
• Be sure to add information and examples in your own words
• Allow time for note-taking
• Answer audience questions
• Practice your presentation

The Best presentations have

• Easy to read slides that support what is being said
• A clearly stated purpose
• Graphics, photos, and other visual objects used judiciously 
• A speaker who is relaxed and confident

POIT lesson 6 peripherals

1. Peripherals are devices used for computer input and output                                                                                     
• Mouse - Input
• Keyboard - Input
• Monitor - Output
• Flash drive - Output
• Printer - Output                                                                           

       2.  Types of mice or mouse

• USB Wireless Optical Mouse
• Trackball Mouse

        3.  Monitors 

• LCD Monitor
• CRT Monitor 

         4.  High Definition Monitors

• High Definition monitors have better resolution, which means better quality videos and pictures
• A pixel is the smallest colored dot that can be displayed on the screen
• More pixels = more detail
• Standard Resolution : 1280 * 720 pixels
• High definition: 1920 * 1080 pixels

         5.  Printers

• Multifunction 
• Scanner
• Inkjet

         6.  Drives

• 3 1/2 inch floppy drive
• CD - ROM Drive
• DVD Drive
• Blu - ray Drive

         7.  External Drives

• DVD Drive with laser light
• USB Drive

         8.  Tower Cases

• Usually have at least one bay for an optical drive, such as DVD or Blu Ray drive
• Different sizes and types of drives can all be loaded into a tower case

First 9 Weeks

What is your impression of the first 9-weeks of high school?  

These first 9 weeks have been quite good, Its been a lot better than I initially expected. My impression of High School initially was that it would really be tough and exhausting, but even though its tough it nearly isn't as tough or challenging

What has been difficult about the transition from middle school?  

One of the most difficult aspects of my transition from middle to high school, was finding new friends and adapting to the semester routine. Because most of my friends that I took all of middle school to establish moved away to other schools, and I had to move to this school where in the first day I didn't know anyone but 2 people from my previous middle school

What has been easy about the transition?  

The easiest thing about the transition was that unlike middle school where I was extremely shy, I was actually quite open and proactive the first couple of days. I had a few friends from middle school who I was with who helped me not feel like loner during my first few weeks of high school

What have you learned about yourself?

One of the things I learned about my myself these 9 weeks is that whenever I study or work hard my grades always go up. Because in Middle school I didn't study much which was one of the reasons why I had A's and B's. But in High School I have changed that and have started to focus more on the task and work given to us realizing how important it is too my future

ID Theft Facoff

1. If someone has stolen information about your accounts, you should wait to see what they do with it and than take action ( False )
2. If some of your stolen information include you government issued ID, all you need to do is create a facsimile using a recent color photo ( False )
3. One of the best ways to protect your identity is by using online passwords only you would know - like your mother's maiden name or the last four digits of your Social Security Number ( False )
4. If the stolen information includes your social security number, you can place initial fraud alert by calling one of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies
5. The Best way to get a copy of the credit report is to file a FOIA Request ( False )
6. The names of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies are Equinox, ExerCorps and Trans America. ( False )
7. Identity theft refers only to the theft of drivers license or name badges ( False )
8. If someone has stolen your identity, and then you notice you're no longer recieving bills from creditors, this is a sign that your identity has been restored ( False ) 

Trends and Factors

What Three Trends Do I See in Computer Evolution and Why?

• Virtual Reality - It has been the most innovative and exciting technology that in the future and right now is changing the way people percieve and will interact with computers in the mere future
• Notebook/Tablet Computers - As computers are advancing in growth and so are tablets in sale. So it wouldn't be a surprise to figure out that the new wave of computers are going to be portable and touch screen with the ability to change from tablet to laptop.
• High Resolution/3D Cameras within Computers - Another market computers want to capture is the camera market, just like the tablets, lesser and lesser people are buying cameras every year as the cameras in computers are getting upgraded. Nowdays almost everyone uses the cameras they have in their phones, tablets or computers for pictures. So it wouldn't be surprisng that the customers want their tablet or computer cameras to be more advanced and 3D cameras are becoming the new trend.

Name Three Factors that drive Technological Innovation?

Global Scale Competition or Rivalry
Humanitarian Crisis or War
Expanding Human needs and markets

True or False

1. The first Computer Programmer was a Woman?
True : Ada Lovelace
2. The first Computer was built in 1975
False : 1910
3. Apple made the worlds first user friendly personal computer?
True 
4. Binary numbers are counted by 2s
False : 0s and 1s
5. A notebook computer is the same as a laptop computer?
True
6. Computers come in only 3 sizes : desktop, notebook and tablet
False : Mobile Devices and Supercomputers
7. All PCs use the Microsoft windows operating system?
False : Linux
8. People with a lot of Data often own their own main frame
False
9. Most modern supercomputers are made up of clusters of computers?
True

Anticipation Guide

1. As long as I can check my email and surf the web I am computer literate

Disagree 

2. All computer systems are basically a light on the inside?
Agree

3. Peer to Peer networks are a great way to share all kinds of files?
Disagree

4. Open source software is the wave of the future. Soon it won't matter what kind of machine a person has because everything will be open source and easily translatable from one operating system to another.
Disagree

5. Although Computer Programmers should focus on learning the very latest programming languages older programs written in languages like C are still important to learn.
Agree

6. Unrestricted access to technology is a fundamental human right.
Disagree

7. If I get a job in the computer industry, I will never have to worry about being unemployed.
Disagree