January 31, 2010

Today I read "The Apple Ipad: First Impressions" by the NY Times blogger David Pogue. He was talking about the new Apple Ipad, set to debut in April. The author appears to be warning people not to judge the Apple Ipad too quickly...he says "Criticims of 'Like a laptop', and 'a big Ipod Touch' don't really do justice to the possibilities".

I admit, I'm not sure I see the potential yet of this new product. It is basically a screen without a keyboard, a memory slot, and very expensive...when the Ipad goes on sale, it will start at $499 for a 16-gig memory, and go up to $830 for 64 gigs. It seems rather expensive, and more for viewing videos or talking on the phone than anything. And while there is an app for Word and other similar applications, I can't imagine it would be very easy to work with just a screen--no keyboard--when creating documents or anything else, for that matter.

David Progue seems to believe that as the product becomes available, the people that are currently "bashing" the Ipad will change their minds as has happened in the past with products like the Ipod and Iphone.

But, I am an accountant, and as such, have a limit to "thinking outside the box". Perhaps this tablet will be the next best thing since sliced bread? If so, I will be among the group of people Progue is talking about!

January 22, 2010

Today I read about TOR (The Onion Router) which is, I believe, software designed to create anonymity for the user. Apparently, this creates a "cloak of invisibility" for people using the internet for questionable activities, such as pedofiles. According to ZDNet.com, HD Moore, the creator of the "Metasploit Project", has developed a method for identifying users that were previously operating under the guise of invisibility. If I understand it correctly, his software can peel back the layers of the "onion" that has created the anonymity and identify the ISP address of a user searching for certain keywords. While it is not yet clear if his software could be used as evidence against a pedofile, the potential for this software would be immense. If the tech world could stay one step ahead of the criminal world and use this technology to prosecute pedofiles, terrorists, and druglords, the benefits would be great to all society.

January 20, 2010

What a fabulous day! Finally finished reconciling the inventory accounts and provided to the auditors...what a relief to have that off my back!

In my IS5800 class right now...looks to be very interesting aside from that term "group assignment" that keeps popping up. Luckily, though, my group is great...if 5 minutes can tell you anything.

So far tonight I already learned that a man trapped by the first earthquake in Haiti survived for 65 hours before being rescued...and he claims his IPhone saved his life. First he treated his injuries using a medical app, used his alarm clock to keep himself from going into shock, and finally mapped his location to identify a safer spot to await rescuers. How cool is that?! Not sure I'd be that smart in that situation...or that my phone wouldn't run out of power!