AJAX Is Not Just For Cleaning

As the semester is winding down, I thought I would write my final blog about what I have learned in IS 449. The first thing I learned was about MashUps. This is a really cool technology and I think it is really going to take off in the next few years as soon as more people realize what really can be done with it. Being able to search several sites at the same time is going to be the future of the Internet. I have also learned that not all Head First books are not as good as the html version.

Another thing I learned was that AJAX was not a cleanser used to clean the bathtub and sink. AJAX is a very complex and unforgiving coding language that can either make really nice things happen or really bad things to happen. Now when I look around the Internet I see AJAX everywhere and see how important knowing about is. I also learned that the COB is now closed on the weekends and that student center is not the best place to work on coding. I also learned about API and that the IMDB does not have one for whatever reason.

As I reflect on this class and my time coming to end at Eastern, I feel good, nervous, sad and little perplexed about where I am going to go from here. Whatever happens I feel good to e graduating in two weeks and moving on to wherever the world is going to take me. I wish the whole class the best, especially for all those graduating. Good luck everyone, I will miss you all.

No API For IMDB

As my group and I have been working on our project we have learned that the IMDB does not have an API. This really has surprised me because they are not a service that charges a fee to use so why not provide an API for users? I read some articles that the IMDB is looking for someone to develop one. What irritates me is that the IMBD is part of Amazon and Amazon has an API. How hard could it be to add the IMBD?

My group and I have been looking for a replacement for the IMDB. We have found a few sites and Professor Drake emailed some information that may be helpful. The one thing I have really learned throughout this class is to not be scared to completely drop a website that will not work. There are plenty of sites out there that all do similar activities and will work for our project.

I am really looking forward to the final project being done. It is hard to believe that we are almost done. It feels like we just started. I know my group and I will get our project working. It may not be our originally list of API’s but the concept has stayed the same. This class has been an adventure. MashUps are cool ideas that can benefit not only the owner of the MashUp but also the owners of the API’s used. I think that more and more websites are going to provide API’s. Hopefully the IMDB will be one soon.

Individual Project 3

As the due date for our individual projects nears, I began to work on getting a second rss feed into my last project. The hardest part of the individual project so far has been finding rss feeds for my chosen topic of travel. The first one I find was Kayak and they actually have several different feeds that can be used. Finding the second one was a lot harder. I tried Yahoo travel, Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia. I finally found an rss feed for Expedia and decided to add that one.

So the next part was to figure out how to add the second feed to my current project. I looked back over the class blog and saw the examples that were put up and this really helped. So I wrote the code based on this example, loaded it on people.emich and hit the button. I was happy that it worked until I saw that only the second feed was coming up. This surprised me a little; I would have expected the first one and not the second one to work.

I spent some time playing with the code and still could not get it to function right. I went through every line of code and could not see what the problem was. I finally asked one of my group mates for help. They were able to catch the mistake that I had kept missing and my feed now works with both Kayak and Expedia. The one thing I have learned about writing code whether it be C#, JavaScript or any other computer language is that there is very little room and any type error and the programmer must be a very diligent person and keep checking each line. If one variable is wrong, the whole application will not work.

Quarter of U.K. Kids Have Hacked

A recent U.K survey found that twenty six percent of school age children had tried to hack into someone else’s social or email account. Despite the fact that the majority of children say hacking is wrong. This article raised two important issues for me. The first one being that the younger generation has no respect for others and how safe are our accounts really if children can hack into them? In world where everyone is connected by technology, we really have become disconnected as people.

Young people now days see their computer or their cell phone or other data device not as a tool but as a part of themselves that they can not put down. If you have gone to a movie recently you will know what I am talking. All the young talk extremely loud with their friends, oblivious to anyone else. Then they start to text. Why did you even come to the movie if you want to talk to someone else? These kids are really disconnected from society and what is correct behavior. So hacking into someone’s account is no big deal to them. I see this becoming a really serious problem with all the young people of the world.

Another issue is how safe are our private accounts if young kids can hack into them. I think that the kids in this survey hacked into their friends accounts but they could lead up to non friends accounts and then into other than email or social. It just seems terrible that you have to think so far ahead about the next generation of hackers. Most hackers start out hacking because it seems like fun and then turns into something more. There is no way to stop technology but maybe we can show kids how to be better users and have respect for others.

Social Media Hate

Social Networking Sites are usually thought of as just a fun way to connect with people. However, recently these sites have been being used to spread racism, and terror. The number of hate sites on Social sites such as MySpace and FaceBook increased twenty percent since last year. Does this mean that the number of people who hate has gone up? I do not think so. Social media sites just make it easier to hate because your true identity can be hidden.

When people feel they can say or do whatever they want and their true identity will be kept secret, they are more apt to do horrible things. People who hate have always hid behind some type of cover. Throughout the years these types of people have used whatever technology was available to them to spread their words of hate. Social media sites are just their newest choice.

So should these sites be censored because of a few who use them for hate? I do not think that any media should be censored. The best way to handle people who hate and hide themselves is just monitor their activities to make sure that they do not harm anyone. By making a big deal about what they are doing, their message is spread to more people and that is their goal. By just not accepting their message of hate, they lose.

Social Media Fights Crime In Mexico

The Mexican government along with U.S. forces has been fighting a drug war for the past year. Violence and death are just part of everyday life for the citizens who live in these war zones. The drug cartels maintain their control be limiting the amount of information that is getting out about their illegal activities. The people who witness these acts first hand are too scared to give the information to authorities. The one thing that the drug cartels did not count on was all the social networking sites available to people now.

People are more inclined to use technology to report information rather than doing in person. The social networking media allows a person to report on what is happening and not worry about the drug cartels finding out. The war that is going right now is going to be a defining moment for Mexico. They are in a very volatile situation and their government is in danger of collapse. Social networking sites may not fix the situation but they are helping it.

I always felt that social networking sites were only for entertainment purposes. It is hard to believe that these sites are helping to fight crime. There has been a lot of bad that has come from social networking sites. People stalked, harassed or even killed. It is good to hear about some good coming from them. Technology is supposed to be used to make people’s lives better and that seems to be the case here. I really hope Mexico can win this war and stabilize their government.

Apple Failure

Everyone always talks about how successful Apple is and how their name means quality. However, Apple has had its fair share of failures. One of the biggest failures was the Apple Lisa. This computer debuted in 1983 and had a price tag of almost ten thousand dollars. It was the first commercially produced computer to have a GUI interface. It seemed the Lisa had what it would take to become a highly successful PC.

However, many companies were turned off by the price and instead ran the cheaper IBM PCs. The only entity that ran the Lisa exclusively was NASA who used LisaProject for their project management. Although the Lisa was a very advanced computer for its day, it still ran very slowly when compared to other less expensive models of the time. Another factor that helped doom the Lisa to failure was the introduction of the Mac in 1984.

The Mac cost less and people flocked to this new Apple product. The Lisa seemed doomed from the begging. Its price was too high for what it provided to the customer. It was also cannibalized by Apple’s introduction of the Mac. In 1986 after a failed make over the Lisa was discontinued and was left as just a bad memory to Apple. It just goes to show you that not everyone can be successful all the time and making mistakes is just part of the success process.

Paradise By Computer

As our winter break approaches many of us may spend the break catching up on homework and other assignments for our senior classes. Still many others will take that week and turn it into a much needed vacation from school and homework. If you do decide to go on vacation, one of the top destinations for college students on break is Cancun Mexico. With its premium white beaches, tropical atmosphere and it’s almost perfect weather Cancun is a delight for all who have ever been there.

What does Cancun have to with an IS 449 class blog? Cancun with all its beauty and charm would not exist today had it not been for a computer that was used to pick the most perfect location for tourism in Mexico. Had it not been for a computer, this main tourist attraction would still be just overgrown jungle and its beautiful beaches would belong to just the sea creatures who inhibit the waters.

In the late 1960s the Mexican president created a committee to research the best possible location in Mexico to develop for tourism. The committee then searched many potential locations. In 1970, all the information gathered by the researchers was feed into a computer and the best possible location was chosen by the computer. Cancun was that choice and I have to say that a computer did a really good job of picking paradise. The computer technology at the time was no where near where it is today and its choice just amazes me. Sometimes nature needs a little help, in this case it was helped by a computer.

Bill Gates Wants Green Energy

Bill Gates is calling on the world’s technology community to find a way to turn spent nuclear fuel into cheap, clean fuel. I could not agree more with Mr. Gates. Alternative Energy, or Green Energy is what the United States needs in this time of economic turmoil. Not only will Alternative Energy help stop climate change it will provide a much needed boost to the U.S. economy. Alternative Energy sounds like a win, win situation for all involved.

Alternative Energy seems like a good solution to the current energy and economic crisis facing the United States and the world. An important factor in the switch to Alternative Energy is going to be the technology. The cost of producing Alternative Energy needs to become cheaper than the current methods already being used. It also has to be dependable and easy for people to use in their everyday life. There has been success in other countries such as Germany and France in Alternative Energy use.

Alternative Energy is facing a lot of opposition from coal and big oil. These industries not only have great financial resources but they also employ a great number of people as well. It is hard to convince people of the benefits of something when there are powerful forces working against Alternative Energy. I really do hope that Alternative Energy can overcome all the forces working against it and becomes common place in the United States. Michigan especially can benefit from all the new jobs that could be created by this new industry. Maybe now that a billionaire is asking for a solution, one will be found.

Google VS Apple

Google is looking to go to war against the Apple iPad. Google is already in the design phase for their own tablet that would run on the Chrome OS system. Google has been trying to break into the operating system market for the last few years and recently launched the Droid smart phone, a joint venture with Motorola. Google wants to branch out into more fields than just being a search engine. Right now it seems that they have their sights set on taking a bite out of apple.

Google is a highly successful technology company who revolutionized web searches and whose ventures continue to create new ways of using the Internet. Apple has one big advantage over Google; they have been in the computer business for over thirty years. Apple knows the computer business in and out and just how hard it is to make a really good product that people want to purchase at a premium.

Google has probably done its research and knows what they are getting into but I can’t help but think that they may get more than they bargained for. The business of service is a lot easier to manage than the business of manufacturing. Google has a lot going for it but Apple is not going to down without a fight. Where Google is going to go in the next ten years is going to be really interesting. Will they be successful? Only time will tell.

Group Project

My group had its second meeting this past Saturday to start working on our first iteration which is due February 10th. This week we had the addition of a new group member who brought some good ideas for the project. All group members this week brought a sketch of what they thought our application should look like. It was nice that all of us kind of had the same design and some ideas icons and images that we want in the application.

We then broke up the work duties for the first iteration and discussed what we wanted the static file to be. Since we are planning on doing a movie mashup site we thought that bringing up a movie poster would be a good way to start iteration one. We also found out that Netflix is also an available API that we can use. For the most part it seems things are going well for group.

The only real issue we seem to be having is the fact that the COB is now closed on the weekends and Saturday is the only day our group can meet. We met last week at the student center computer lab. Half the computers did not work, and none of them have the software that is available at the CIS lab at the COB. One work around is for us to bring our laptops with our own software on to work on the project. This is probably what we will have to do. The COB being closed is just a minor set back and I know my group and I will be able to overcome this and have a great project.

Head First Ajax

When I saw that we were going to be using a Head First book I was excited because I had used one of these in a pervious class. However after I started going through the chapters I find that this book is a little confusing. And does not seem to describe the concepts as well as the Head First HTML book did. I do think that Ajax is a little tricky then HTML so that may be the reason why this book is a little confusing.

To make sure that I fully understand the concepts that this class is demonstrating I order two additional books that were recommended by Professor Drake and one that was suggested by Amazon. I am excited about working with JavaScript finally, I just wish we had had a more basic class offered in JavaScript as well because a lot of employers are looking for JavaScript knowledge and the more you have the better.

All in all I think that this class is going to go well and I will learn a lot of new skills that will be useful in the job market. The additional books will really help make my group project and my individual project even better. I am really looking forward to the application we are going to create. I know that all the books will help in the process.

Project

I am really excited about the idea my group has come up with for out project. We are going to try to integrate four API’s that will give different information on a movie title that is entered into our application. As a big movie buff I thought of this idea and my group and Professor Drake thought it would be a good project to do. I really hope we can get it to work because I really like the concept.

What we are going to do for our project is create an application where a movie title is entered then information about the movie is pulled for the Internet Movie Database, DVD and other merchandizing information is pulled from Amazon and EBay and finally Netflix is checked to see if the DVD is availably there.

We have already started to look at the API’s we will need and it looks like we are in good shape there. Now comes the hard part of using Ajax to create our application. I am a little bit nervous about this part. Programming can be really hard and getting it all to work may be another challenge but I think my group is up to it and we will do well.

Microsoft's New Hope

Microsoft is trying to do way with the keyboard, mouse and all other input devices used on electronics. Their new Natal technology will work by using human body and voice to input information into the desired electronic device. This technology can be used on more than just your home computer. It can be used in a wide range of everyday electronics. This could revolutionize they way we all use technology and change Microsoft’s image.

When people think of Microsoft right now, Windows and PC are what come to mind and all the problems that go with them. Apple is thought as the cool and cutting edge technology leader. Microsoft has had a really bad five years with the mediocre release of Vista and Microsoft’s launch of their version of an iPod, the Zoom, Microsoft needs something to boost them back to the cutting edge.

Natal maybe the technology that does just that and like Windows changes the way we use electronics. As a person who grew up with keyboards, the mouse, and joysticks, I have a hard time getting use to touch less electronics. I do not feel comfortable yet with the idea of not having an input device. For me it really just depends on how good Natal is going to work. If it winds up being another Vista, Microsoft is going to have a huge problem they may not be able to come back from. Bill Gates has often said that “Microsoft is always two years away from failure.” So we will wait and see if this is a victory for Microsoft or a failure. Only time will tell.