Final Assignment

LINK
This link shows Jailbreaking, it consists in hacking the operative systems such as iPhones, PS3s ect in order to get hundreds of illegal applications that are normally paid in the official store.
This exists since a few years ago, and it changes the interaction with the user.

LINK
This shows how ASIMO, Honda's robot can help the Fukishima power plant. It has new innovations from the previous generations

LINK
The link shows how scientists have created a contact lens where information can be read, just like in the movie Terminator. It consists in a pixel where information can be transmitted

The World of the Future

To see 'The World of the Future' PowerPoint, click HERE

Technology in Education

a) A password protected site is a page which requires users and passwords so as to log in and be able to operate the web page.


b) The user would need: - Username and password, otherwise he wont be able to get in the page. Other thing they will need is the need to using the page, because it will make no sense in creating a user if the info


c) Students can access useful information, such as homework or any stuff in case the student is absent, then he can easily catch up.


d) Nowadays most of the teachers do not have many IT skills making password protecting their web pages very difficult and time wasting. Teachers also return from schools tired to protect their web pages and they eventually leave their sites without protection. In conclusion I think that the security method of some web sites should be more accessible for people with IT limitation skills and knowledge.

Games for the Classroom

Age of Empires II is a strategic real-time game where each user has to choose a civilization. It can be from western Europe, easter Europe, middle east and Asia. During the game the player must develop certain ages and tools or soldiers in order to achieve power and score. There are about 15 different civilizations. Each continent has different architecture and each civilization has different language and skills, for instance the British are the best at farming, and the Vikings are the best at sea combat, etc.
The game also has a campaign which consists on controlling a war hero, such as Carlomagno or Joan of Arc and  perform a known battle that happened in the past. 


This game was released in 1997 so today it's easy to get it online for free.
DOWNLOAD
Category - History
The teacher could test the different heroes and important battles of history by playing the game's campaign mode

Creating an assessment instrument

As so to wrap up with the subject on Health, you’ll be creating a PowerPoint with the “Death by Power Point” presentation as a guide. In it you’ll discuss:

·         Brief introduction of examples of software used within the medical areas (clinics, practices, hospitals, etc.) such as patient monitoring, therapeutic tools and health records.

·         State the social impacts on both patients and professionals these technological advances make.

·         Compare them with the impact software outside medical areas such as telemedicine and online advice, as well as mention how medical technology helps aid disabled people.

·         Make a final conclusion including your personal response, taking into account the other possible views on discussing the social impacts of implementing IT solutions to medicine.

Here are some guidelines to help you in your PowerPoint presentation.

·         Be concise; don’t fill your slides with text. Refer to the “Death by PowerPoint” presentation.

·         Include your bibliography.

·         Quote websites and when you do consider their validity.

Rubric

Criterion A: Comprehension

• 0.      
The student mentions few of the methods studied and no explanation of them is provided
• 1.       The student mentions few of the methods studied and are explained at a general level
• 2.       Student mentions most of the methods studied and provides a explains briefly what they consist of
• 3.       The student mentions most if not all of the methods studied and provides a clear and concise explanation of them.

Criterion B: Personal Response

• 0.       The student provides a poorly structured and unclear and incomplete response without taking into account any other posture than its own.
• 1.      
The student provides a response that is unclear and incomplete including little information on other postures. The response has no refutation whatsoever.
• 2.       The student provides an appropriate response, though not clearly expressed. Mentions other postures briefly and relates it to his.
• 3.       The student provides an appropriate response and refutes other generally explained postures.
• 4.       The student’s response his well structured and clear, he includes refutation to other postures in order to strengthen out his.
• 5.       The student makes use of quotes in order to explain and refute other postures on the discussion, providing a clear, well structured and complete response and conclusion.

Crierion C: Presentation

• 0.      The student makes a poorly structured, dull, presentation, mostly filled with text and doesn’t help support his discussion on the topic. No bibliography is included.
• 1.       The student presents a fairly structured and barely attractive presentation with an incomplete bibliography and helps support his discussion.
• 2.       The student follows most of the guidelines provided and creates a well structured presentation through which his discussion is appropriately presented. An appropriate bibliography included.
• 3.       The student creates a well structured, concise, clear and attractive presentation through which he presents his discussion in a consistent and effective manner. Complete bibliography is included.

Criterion D: Research

• 0.       The student makes use of unreliable sources and does not discuss their validity. Little to know quotes are presented.
• 1.       The student makes use of quotes from valid sources even though he fails to discuss their validity when necessary.
• 2.       The student makes good use of quotes showing his understanding of the source and briefly discusses their validity when necessary.
• 3.       The student makes good use of quotes and examples, showing an in-depth understanding of the sources used. The student validates his sources appropriately and concisely when necessary.

Grading:

17-18 à 10

15-16 à9

13-14 à8

11-12 à7

8-10 à6

6-7 à5

4-5 à4

2-3 à3

1à2

0à1

Optional Topics

3.6 Political and government
• Political process: voting and elections, lobbying, open government and free movement of information
• Government administration: record keeping, tax collection, policy implementation
• Legislation: policy development, enactment, enforcement and analysis
• Police: DNA data collection, video surveillance
• Military: cyber warfare, smart weapons development, espionage
• Rebel and terrorist use of IT

1.      Political Process

. The fist site explains the different types of technology that could be implemented when voting, lobbying which is persuading legislators to vote for something, and the free movement of data. It shows pros and cons and it seems to be a reasonable web page.

2.       Government Administration
This website also shows the different uses of technology. There may not be exact definitions and ideas of the statements but it give a good general idea. It may be outdated and unreliable

4.       Police
It shows a few ways on the technology used in the police such as video surveilance and DNA tests. Its shows very few information and it may not be very reliable

6.       Rebel and Terrorist
It shows a lot of data but it may be too much. It doesnt go straight to the point but it defines the concepts properly. It is a reliable source.

7.       Politics - Berlusconi Google Bombing Video
This is a perfect example of "Google Bombing", where an user types 'miserable' and it is redirected to Italy's Government website. This method can be used to show contempt towards a group or organism, rebellion or just for having fun. In most of the cases these attacks are towards governments.

8.       Online Data Collection Video
This video talks about how data collection has improved since 20 years ago. The video talks about the KGB and how has technology improved since. This is very useful for every government

Computers in education

Software in the classroom: science experiments, social studies modelling and simulation, instructional tools and media, computer-aided instruction, computer-aided learning


We chose this one because we want to see how technology is able to impact in the education of the students. We will research between students and techers how technology is actually impacting their education and how more implemantation will improve the quality of education.


1. We will research the diffrent types of technology used in schools all over the world
2. We will interview some students on what they think about the technology used during the lessons
3. We will ask them how could more technology (and the diffrerent types of it) will ease their lessons and learning.
4. We will ask teaches the questions 2 and 3
5. We will make a conclusion of the whole project

Simulations

www.investopedia.com has a stock exchange simulator. It doesn't run a very complicated system as it takes all the data from the real stock market, using all the figures and values the market contains. This simulator can be used to start understanding and practicing in the stock exchange market as it treats with virtual money. Each user starts with $100.000 and can be invested in any way. It is very reliable as all the values are updated real time but the feel is not the same as the user is not earning or losing any real money.
Simulators can also be used for training methods, such as complex surgery where no mistake can me done so the doctor can see the reactions of the body. An other very common simulator is in the Formula 1 teams, where the drivers practice in a simulator to know better the track. It is much cheaper than practicing with the real car in the real circuit.
There may be some simulators that are not much real as the algorythms may not be very complex so the user will not find it useful but as time is passing by, simulators are getting much complex and the graphics are getting each time more real and at some point in the future they will be even better than real situations, so the users will find it very useful and reliable


RIGOU - SANCHEZ LOPEZ

Slave Hack

In Slavehack, we found different ways to hack remote computers, earn money, cover our tracks, prevent getting hacked or obtain information socially. These techniques actually exist in real life, and can be executed by running certain software or methods.

- Cracking passwords via Bruteforce: this can be done by using software like l0phtCrack, Dsniff or Hydra, which try multiple passwords to log into a

- DDOS attacks: A distributed denial-of-service attack. Is a way to make the attacked user’s PC’s resources unavailable. Tools to do this, tools such as DosHTTP 2.0 are available.

- Social Engineering: this method is actually developed without cracking techniques or software. It consists on tricking and manipulating people with social skills to gather confidential information, like IPs in the game. Methods like phishing, pretexting or baiting can be used

- Erasing of logs and records: This is used not to hack but to prevent being hacked. Methods to do this include, using Auditpool to disable logging, clearing log files with Winzapper, or Rootkits to hide hacker presence.

- Shoulder Surfing: this is a simple way to obtain information which consists only on standing behind the user and observe what they do.

-Firewall Bypasser/Proxy Server: This method is used to get through firewalls which prevent your IP from accessing certain pages or servers. Online tools such HideMyAss exist.

All tools are methods are possible to use, however some are harder than others.

Cracking passwords is probably the most unlikely of all: this is because most services such as web pages have limited amounts on password inputs. This gives the hacker a much smaller chance of actually getting the password and cracking the account. If this is not taken into account, hackers still need a very powerful computer to input the possible passwords very fast. The actual chance of getting the password is also incredibly small.

DDOS attacks are easier to execute than cracking passwords, but still difficult to run. Hacking knowledge is essential, although tutorials are widely available which include the tools. The attacks themselves are very feasible, as they do not require a powerful computer or luck. Social engineering is a not easy but yet simple method to obtain information. Important social skills are needed to manipulate people, especially when the importance of the classified information increases, like bank accounts or company secrets. The advantage is that no tools or software are needed. The cover of tracks is a very easy once the correct software is found, as the process is systematic. Shoulder surfing is highly improbable. Although the only specification required is to be standing or being behind the target, getting by unnoticed is really hard. Using a proxy server to bypass restriction such as MegaUpload is very easy, having to use only online pages. However, obtaining good proxy server software and different addresses to use is more difficult.

The risks and threats of hacking are various. When you are the hacker, there is a high chance of getting caught if the tracks aren’t covered, leading to legal issues and jail time. Being hacked consists on a bigger problem, as prevention is the only way to avoid it and you don’t know when to expect an attack. Important information like bank accounts, client databases, and confidential information can be exposed. An example of this is WikiLeaks, where the US government had to spend a lot of resources fixing systems and relations with other countries. 

Multimedia Search Engine

http://www.tipandtrick.net/2008/new-search-engine-with-visual-pattern-recognition-technology/
This is an article about a new technology incoming developed by Evolution Robotics using Visual Pattern Recognition. This technology is very interesting since it will allow you to find any information available by getting it emailed to you about an image you find if you want to know what it is, a new service that is currently inexistent.


http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/21384/?a=f
A face-recognition system from researchers at Carnegie Mellon. This is an interesting technology that innovates the previous works on this area by allowing for low resolution pictures as it can identify rough border and undefined edges. This 
engine can be specially useful to find criminals and identify other people.


http://www.tineye.com
TinEye is an innovation in the usual search engine technology, as it can found information about any image you upload or find on the internet and also similar others. This is very useful for when you need to know something else about a topic and you only have at your disposal an image and no relevant text.

Constructing queries

The first query we came up with was “life on other planets” because it was what the assignment told us to look for so our first instinct was to just look for those exact words in Google. The first result from this search was a Wikipedia article entitled “Extra-terrestrial life” leading us to decide on those words for our second query. On this second query one of the results contained the words “existence of aliens” which seems as a more to the point search query and more efficient for the assignment.  We then decided that searching for existence of aliens could be excluding any other possible form of life that isn’t necessarily an alien since the term can be considered in several different ways. The query we came up with then was “existence of life in another planets”.

The four final sources we decided to use consisted in being one from each query (“life on other planets”, “existence of aliens” and “existence of life on another planets”).  The sources consist of a Time article discussing the discovery of a very unusual organism on earth and the possibility of it being an extraterrestrial life form, a scientific blog on discussing the mathematical way in which we find the probability of finding life in other planets, an article compiling all the facts that support the idea of life actually existing on other planets and finally a Guardian article on a scientist’s claim of life existing on another planets. In comparison, query number 3 turned out as the most efficient due to the content of the source we found because of it (all the facts supporting the existence of life being true).  Even though as a source it may not seem reliable the information on it is known to be valid and really convinces the reader on the probability of life existing on other planets being high.

Sources

Query 4:http://www.science20.com/news_releases/the_mathematical_probability_of_life_on_other_earth_like_planets

Query 3: http://factoidz.com/best-evidence-for-existence-of-aliensufos/

Query 2: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/mar/06/nasa-scientist-evidence-extraterrestrial-life

Query 1: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2034601,00.html

Google Bombing

Google bombing is basically manipulating the search engine so the search appears in the first page and in the top of this one. Generally Google Bombs are a way to damage peoples reputation in a humorous way. 
Top 10 Google Bombings: Go to link
How to Google Bomb: Go to link

Terra 2050

The video states that by 2050 we will need 3 planets to live as today. That means that the total population of the 3 planets will be about 18 billion habitants. However www.overpopulation.com states that by that year we will be about 9 billion:

Under the UN’s medium variant scenario, world population will reach 9.1 billion in 2050. This represents a slight upward revision from more recent estimates that had worldpopulation reaching just 8.9 billion in 2050.

Another source, www.overpopulation.net/, states that:

 People that are somewhat aware of human population numbers are talking about the 8.9 billion in 2050.

Which supports the commentary above. Probably the video didn't mean that we will need 3 planets because of a lack of space. Maybe the video means that we will not have enough resources like fresh water or agricultiral products because scarcity will be present:

As a result, the amount of water available per person is expected to decline by 74 percent between 1950 and 2050

and that that agriculture will not increase:

 there is little hope for restoring growth in food output.

Other frase that the video states is that: 2/3 of the world's languages will disappear by 2050.  This quote is probably true as the source http://www.wholeearth.com/issue/2100/article/138/disappearing.languages states that

Many linguists predict that at least half of the world's 6,000 or so languages will be dead or dying by the year 2050

This statement given by the video is mostly true, because 6000 of the total languages (circa 7000) will be extinct, so more than 2/3 will extinct.
Other web site, www.bbc.co.uk says that

more than a third of the world's six thousand languages are (currently) in danger of extinction.

 So if 1/3 of the languages are currently being extinct, by the year 2050 that number will increase


With the Terra 2050 videos we can se that most of the the thoughts of the future are mainly part of one's imagination although there are a few facts that are true.


Although we are not too sure if these sources are reliable, we can still trust them because all of them agree and state almost the same facts