Kevin's Frosted Bits

Getting into the Clouds with RackSpace

Kevin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:08:08 +0000

The time has come to switch my sites over to a virtual private server environment using the relatively new product from Rackspace called Rackspace Cloud which is akin to Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud but provides better value in my opinion. Rackspace has great customer support and in general gives you more computing power per penny when compared with Amazon. No, I am not a paid spokesperson, I just know these guys are doing a fantastic job in this space.

Server Pricing Options:

Bandwidth pricing:

Academia vs. Business from a programmer

Kevin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:29:56 +0000

This recent comic from XKCD illustrates the recognition problems we, as programmers, can all relate to.

Facebook and Privacy

Kevin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:44:42 +0000

While researching for a seminar I delivered on consumer privacy I discovered a lot of interesting tidbits on Facebook. I thought I’d publish some of the research I did just to show why we really should be reading those privacy policies.

General Facebook Facts:

Sources – ( http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline and http://www.facebook.com/press/releases.php?p=9166#/press/info.php?statistics )

Facebook was launched in Feb. 2004
Facebook now has more than 300 million active users (which makes it bigger than the population of all but 4 countries in the world. Just passed Brazil, next in line is Indonesia and then the US.)
with more than 2 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week

Facebook Beacon:

link – http://www.facebook.com/beacon/faq.php

Pitch from Facebook -
“Facebook Beacon is a way for you to bring actions you take online into Facebook. Beacon works by allowing affiliate websites to send stories about actions you take to Facebook.”
(http://www.allfacebook.com/2007/11/breaking-facebook-updates-beacon/)
Facts:

Launched on Nov. 2007 with 44 partners (src: http://www.facebook.com/press/releases.php?p=9166)
Partner sites include eBay, Fandango, & Blockbuster
Originally, if no user action was taken partners could publish information to their Facebook account with updates such as:
Prompted civil action groups to ask Facebook to change the way Beacon functioned
As a result Beacon became an opt-in service – users had to explicitly approve any website’s attempts to publish information to Facebook.

Facebook and Canada

links: http://www.pcworld.com/article/171030/thanks_canada_facebooks_4_big_privacy_fixes.html &
http://www.facebook.com/press/releases.php?p=118816

Only two months ago (August 09) a set of recommendations from the Canadian Privacy Commissioner made Facebook change its privacy policy:
“to better describe a number of practices, including the reasons for the collection of date of birth, account memorialization for deceased users, the distinction between account deactivation and deletion, and how its advertising programs work.”

Before these changes went into effect, Facebook users could “delete” their account but it would remain in Facebook’s servers in a deactivated state in case the user wanted to come back and rejoin Facebook. This obviously creates some privacy concerns because an account might contain sensitive information that a user really wants to be erased.

“Increasing the understanding and control a user has over the information accessed by third-party applications. Specifically, Facebook will introduce a new permissions model that will require applications to specify the categories of information they wish to access and obtain express consent from the user before any data is shared”

Even with these changes any third-party application could gain access to most of your profile information through one mouse click:

Many concerns still remain as documented by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC is a public interest research center in Washington, D.C.) at http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/

Java Games Collection

Kevin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:18:46 +0000

I’ve set-up a quick portal page for some of the java applets I’ve written for school. Please check it out: http://family-connect.com/javaApps/
I have a Memory Game and Wordscramble applet up at this time with details/instructions.

Playing For Change: "Stand By Me"

Kevin — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:30:26 +0000

I caught this amazing video on DiggReel and thought it deserved a place on my site.
Source:
playingforchange.com - From the award-winning documentary, “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music”, comes the first of many “songs around the world” being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe.

Playing For Change: Song Around the World “Stand By Me” from Playing For Change on Vimeo.

Demetri Martin the Palindrome Poet

Kevin — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:30:31 +0000

Demetri Martin is a very clever comedian whom I first discovered from his stand-up routine on Comedy Central. Recently he has picked up his own show on Comedy Central entitled Important Things with Demetri Martin.
What has really impressed me is this poem he put together that is actually one giant palindrome. A palindrome is a word or phrase which reads the same in both directions. Usually a person can come up with a few single word palindromes but one of this length is impressive.

“Dammit I’m Mad”
by Demetri Martin

Dammit I’m mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I’m in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level “Mad Dog”.
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp,
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one… my names are in it.
Murder? I’m a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I’m it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I’d assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
“Sir, I deliver. I’m a dog”
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I’m mad.

I made a quick program to confirm that this poem is in fact a palindrome and here is the result:

Demetri Martin Palindrome Check

Mindless video of the day: Kittens riding vacuums!

Kevin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:57:10 +0000

Found this video while browsing the ‘tubes and thought it deserved a spot here.

The internet has been the best thing to happen to cats since catnip

The Role of Media In 15 Years

Kevin — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:36:43 +0000

It is notoriously difficult to paint an accurate picture of what anything might be like in the future because it can turn out like this video from the Paris Exhibition of Future. The future of media consumption in 15 years might prove to be an easier target. We know the major forms media constitutes today: broadcast/cable TV, Internet, video games, print (books, papers etc.), radio, film, recorded audio (music and spoken word), and mobile phones. In the immediate future, I can see mobile phones becoming a more prominent form of mass media as mobile content starts being offered by more carriers; i.e. the Apple iPhone already has a huge adoption rate and developers flocking to write applications and custom ring tones for it. In 15 years I would describe the major forms of media as follows:

Internet – massive growth in interactive social networks
Mobile Phones – widespread use of portable media with devices that combine other forms of media into the mobile form factor.
Video Games – immersive virtual worlds become popular places for work and play
Recorded Audio – music is around but sadly the one-hit-wonders are too.
broadcast/cable TV – still around but struggling to adapt to the times
Print Media – becoming relics as paper is digitized and displayed on portable devices
Radio – fewer choices in radio programming have caused a decline in listenership
Film – still popular as new filming technology is developed to keep moviegoers interested

I imagine that in 15 years I will be even more dependent on visual media to aid in the continuous learning that is associated with the computer science field. I believe it will be more effective and convenient to watch instructional material perhaps on the go in a visual form. Life seems to be lived in an increasingly hectic pace as the rate of technological development quickens. Multitasking and time management will be key to my future success. As a result of this, my personal locus will be focused on advancing my career while having enough leisure time to maintain my sanity. A sample week of my future media life might look like:

Mobile Phone Media:
New York Times,
Wall Street Journal – portable print editions
Technology news
Weather forecasts

Internet
facebook – if this isn’t around another similar service has taken its place.

TV
any Discovery channel show

Video Games
casual games – easy to pick up and play during my free time.

Do schools kill creativity?

Kevin — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:56:59 +0000

Very interesting and thought provoking video by this man Ken Robinson who argues the case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Reactions to "Growing Up Online"

Kevin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:26:07 +0000

The PBS Frontline special “Growing Up Online” is a thorough examination of the Internet generation and the effects it is having on parenting children in the digital divide. I would like to point out that this documentary only seems to focus on the negative aspects of living in the Internet age. Their are many aspects of the Internet that have improved our lives and made them more productive. However, most of the points made in this documentary are valid and need to be addressed.

The most worrisome aspect of this documentary for me was seeing it from a perspective of an adult who also has experience relating with what these troubled teenagers were going through. My generation will mark one of the first that has “come of age” on the Internet and has transitioned to parenthood. I’d like to think I’m more technically savvy than the average person but I cannot predict what technologies my kids or grand-kids will be using and whether I’ll be able to understand them. The Internet is still evolving and has yet to reach its peak. We are even likely to witness several iterations of the Web before the decade is up.

One of the main problems that seemed to be occurring throughout this documentary is when the parents are separated by a digital divide between themselves and their children. The divide is much more than, “the troubling gap between those who use computers and the Internet and those who do not.” It involves understanding that the world has experienced a paradigm shift and parents who try to get by raising their kids using the same methods that their parents had will end up encountering problems. As the parents struggle with trying to understand how to discipline an on-line enabled teenager they start to overreact and make mistakes. The parents are not entirely to blame, I feel the pace of technological development has quickened so much that it is leaving the uninformed behind.

The High School featured in the documentary had already taken many steps in the right direction as the co-principle pointed out, “We have to be interactive because they’re accustomed to sitting in front of a screen, and they’ve got five windows up and they’re talking to three people at the same time. We’ve got almost every instructional space in our building now with an LCD projector. We’ve got smartboards in the classrooms. We’ve got podcasting. Teachers are broadcasting sections of their classes so that kids can revisit those at a later time. We can’t possibly expect the learner of today to be engrossed by someone who speaks in a monotone voice with a piece of chalk in their hand. And our teachers are not doing that” (source). The problem with this approach is that not all schools are able to afford this kind of technology. I believe it is necessary to evolve with the times so I think Chatham High School is doing the right thing. We can prevent many of the problems that the kids in the documentary encountered by having schools that take a more proactive role in educating kids about proper internet behavior.