Solid State Hard Drives...or not?

Solid state hard drives are becoming more and more popular.  However, they are still considerably more expensive then more traditional mechanical hard drives.  Recently they have been dropping in price but they still have a long way to go until they are as inexpensive as mechanical hard drives.

Putting the cost factor aside, when strictly comparing the two, they do offer many advantages over traditional mechanical drives.  They are much faster and offer great performance increases then typical drives.  I have personally seen laptops advertise boot times less than 20 seconds.  They also are more attractive to the laptop and tablet markets because since there are no moving parts in a solid state drive they are much more durable against the accidental drop.  

With the performance and durability increase why wouldn't anyone want to go with solid state drives (of course besides the price).  The answer to that question I believe can be seen in the warranties you get with them.  Typically when it comes to the major manufactures traditional mechanical drives come with a 3 or 5 year warranty.  With the solid state drives it's usually more like 1 year.  This tells me they aren't reliable and wear out more quickly than traditional drives.  With solid state drives becoming more popular you do see more reviews coming back stating the drive died in 2 or less years.  This poses a great problem to people that don't run regular backups to another drive.  While we are there lets me honest most of us aren't as good as we should be.

So how should we use this great new technology?  Personally I feel one should have a solid state drive as their boot drive with whatever OS loaded to it.  I also recommend installing frequently used programs to the solid state drive, while keeping all your data like music pictures and movies stored on a traditional drive.  Most desktop computers will be able to accommodate the addition of a solid state drive; however, I feel most laptops will not.  I have only seen a few instances where a laptop will support dual hard drives and those laptops are usually higher end laptops that most of us don't have.  So if your laptop only supports one hard drive I suggest you stick with the regular mechanical hard drive.  At least until the technology is developed more and they become more reliable.

Ramesh Raskar presents femto-photography

Ramesh Raskar: Imaging at a trillion frames per second

Ramesh Raskar presents this amazing technology by referencing his inspiration for his work.  He refers back to a photo taken almost fifty years ago of a bullet passing through an apple.  This photo was taken with an exposure time of only one millionth of a second.  Then he goes on to say that he has technology that can take a photo of one trillionth of a second.  He then goes on to explain that at this speed you can actually see light travel across an object.  He used a couple different slow motion videos to show this.  Then he takes things one step further and uses diagrams and videos to illustrate how this technology can be used to see around corners.

Watching his presentation was truly a mind blowing experience.  He did a great job presenting his information using videos and diagrams.  He had a very natural way of getting you engaged and excited about one aspect of this technology and then taking you to the next level drawing you in even more.  I was kept completely engaged throughout his whole presentation.  This is without a doubt the future of seeing around corners and is truly amazing technology.

Why organizations use Social Media

In this blog post I will be explaining how two companies, Kosir's Rapid Rafting and Toys "R" Us , use Facebook and Twitter to benefit the company.  I will address the questions why and how they are using them, as well as who is their audience.  I will also take a look at how they manage their relationships and if they seem to have any strategies in place.

Kosir's Rapid Rafting is located about an hour north of Green Bay, and their business is white water rafting on the Menomonee River as well as the Peshtigo River.  They are a pretty small company with about twenty four employee's during the summer season, however, they are very active on Facebook.  They realize many of their clients travel hours to get to them, in most cases, and want information before they make the trip.  Kosir's regularly posts whether they have spots open for rafting, temperature of the water, current water levels, as well as forecasting water levels.  If they get a lot of rain they can sometimes forecast if a weekend is going to have high water or not.  High water means the rapids are bigger and for most that's when you want be their.  Their audience is usually aimed at returning customers, there isn't a lot of information on safety or how to raft that a new comer might be interested in.  They handle all that before you go out on the  river.  This last summer they had an employee endure a terrible car accident that broke three vertebrae in his back.  They are now posting updates on his condition and using Facebook to help raise money for him.  They continually reply to questions and statements left by others to help manage their relationships.  They also aim their Facebook page to photography.  They post a TON of pictures throughout the year of the rafters going down  river as well as pictures of the beautiful landscapes the woods and the river have to offer.

Toys R Us is a very different company from Kosir's and they use Facebook in a very different way.  Their page is filled with coupons and ways to enter toy give a ways.  The ultimate goal of using Facebook is still the same, getting people in their store spending money.  Toys R Us is just giving discounts to get parents in the store.  Their audience is clearly parents of  young children, most of their toys they promote are manly ten and under.  They never seem to respond to anyone's comments, and don't seem to use Facebook to manage any type of relationships.  On  Twitter its more of the same. More ways to see promotions, get gift cards, toy giveaways, and come see new toys just recently arriving at the store.

In the end companies use these social media tools for the same reason.  They want to generate business for their company.  Whether its offering discounts or just saying how awesome things are, both get some people to come and spend money.

Why I am at MATC

The reason I'm at MATC is because I'm looking to make a life change.  I have been a carpenter for the last seven years and even though the economy is rough, the work hasn't been that terribly slow.  I even really enjoy the work, it is so gratifying looking at a building you just played a role in building.  However, it is hard work, hard on your body.  I don't see myself being able to do that kind of work for my whole life, nor do I want to have a sore back my whole life.

So here I am at MATC studying to be a IT network something.  I choose the networking program because its an area of IT that isn't so much like a help desk position.  From the research I have done being a network administrator means I probably won't  be answering a phone trying to fix someones computer, because their word program doesn't look the same, and they can't figure out how to print.  It does mean possibly being on call at times on weekends, in case the something in the network goes down.  Being interrupted during the weekend of course isn't desirable, but to me, its less of the two evils.

I landed in the IT field because when I decided to make a career change  I looked at my hobbies.  I enjoy woodworking, already doing that and its not working. I also enjoy playing the trumpet, but its really hard to have a successful living doing that. Then there are computers, a long time hobby with jobs that are out there. The choice was obvious to me and I'm really looking forward to getting a job and living as a IT professional.