Analog TV Sales End At Midnight

As of 12:01 AM, March 1st, no more analog tv sales in the US.

Surfpup

A sanfransisco micro computer retailor has admitted selling micro computers to Iran without obtaining a license and has done this while knowing the export laws. The super micro computer of sanfransisco pleaded guilty by the end of 2006 and has to pay more tha $150,000 in fines. However, the government of Iran is purchasing the same micro computers from china for way cheaper price. The United States has had sanctions on Iran for the past 27 years.

Windows Vista

Hey, just wanted to blog about the new Microsoft Vista upgrade. I've heard that all of the computers have now been upgraded to Windows Vista. And because of this, if you want to buy a new computer you have to make sure that other softwares are compatible for Windows Vista. Is this true or not?

KellyGirl

China - Dow Sink 3.3% in one day

I just read an article at cnn.com about the affect china stock market have on US and other countries. It seen that the shanghai index fall 8.8% due to the chinese government looking into the reason why Chinese stocks rise to record highs. Because of this many investors are affraid of investing into the chinese stock market. The affect from this causes the US Dow to drop 3.3% in one day. Also from what i heard, china stock market is going through the same problem that US have in 1929. Where the investors uses borrowed money to buy stock. Not sure if this is true.


Article:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/27/markets/selloff/index.htm?postversion=2007022716

if anyone know anything about this please comment. Also what do you guy think what will happen if the chinese market crash?

Well, we made it past the first exam! Now that the initial anxiety has diminished, let's talk about technology in general, this class in particular, and what it all means to me.

First of all, I'm not a technophobe, but I will admit that my knowledge and embrace of technology is not as strong as it should be. In fact, I'm still using Windows 98SE and a 56 kbps dial-up modem at home. This is mainly because I sit in front of a computer all day at work, so the last thing I want to do when I get home is surf the web and read email. Furthermore, I had never even blogged before this class, so this is a whole new thing for me. Text messaging, talking on the phone, blogging, and surfing the web has never really been a priority for me. I'm too busy with work and school to spend any time with what I call "non-value added" activities. If I had any free time I would rather ride my bike or go hiking.

From my home PC information above you've probably figured out by know that my cell phone is not cutting edge either. I got it second hand from my wife; it was hers for a couple of years before she turned it over to me. Its a second generation ("2G") unit with no camera, a monochrome LCD screen, and no wireless internet capability. However, becuase I have a GSM wireless provider, and the phone is a tri-band Motorola (the brand that I absolutely love!), it works virtually anywhere in the world. In fact, my wife and I have taken it all over Asia and Europe and it worked everywhere we went.

Now, Michael Dell will be happy to know that I am finally moving up in the computer world. I'm about to order a new computer system. My first system (which was top of the line in 1999) had double the standard memory (both SDRAM and cache), a 30 GB hard drive, upgraded video and sound cards, a 250MB zip drive, and a 40X CD-ROM. Including an HP color printer, Viewsonic 19" VGA CRT, Altec-Lansing speaker system, a UPS/surge protector, Windows 98SE and a professional-level voice recognition software package from Dragon, the total cost was about $3000! I can assure you that my new system will cost a fraction of that. But, I can also assure you that it will not be running Windows Vista. I learned a lesson from the IT guys at work: let others experience the pains of bad code and vulnerabilities before diving in and committing yourself to a new operating system. In other words, if it works, don't fix it!

Moving on, I thought this class could help increase my knowledge of technology, so I jumped in. In fact, I had the choice of taking HTM 304 or ACCT 308, but I have absolutely no desire to be an accountant. In fact, I often tease my wife because she's a "bean counter". So, HTM 304 was an easy choice for me, especially since Dr. Fang was teaching it and I really like her style, having previously taken a class from her. I thought 304 would be overwhelming because my knoledge of technology is not great, as I stated earlier. However, I just started reading the textbook and reviewing the class presentation slides, and it all just came together.

I think the textbook is well written. The author presents all of the information in an easily understood manner, and he is extremely honest about the limitations of technology, the information overload that many of us experience, and the disagreements among the many developers and users of technology regarding definitions, formats, and other common subjects. Chapter 1 (MIS and You) was a straightforward overview, with nothing unexpected. Chapter 2 (Purposes of Information Systems) is where we really started to dive in and learn why we love (and hate) these things called computers. Chapter 3 (Hardware and Software) was perfect timing for me, since it included a class presentation, all just prior to my upcoming PC purchase. (Remember, I haven't purchased a system since 1999, so I had some refreshing to do!) I really enjoyed Chapter 4 (Database Processing) since that is my specialty at work. Over the past year at work I have been a member of several cross-functional teams charged with developing new systems (databases), so this subject was almost a review for me. However, looking ahead at Chapter 5 (Data Communications and Internet Technology) things look a bit intimidating, since this subject is admittedly my greatest weakness. I hope it's not too difficult!

Hey Class just wanted to blog about the test. I was wondering if anyone had any difficulties on last Thursdays exam. I got to admit it the 10 point question were a little surprising. I was wondering if the professor is going to go over it in class. Does anyone know if Professor Fang is going to curve grading???? Anyways I just wanted to know what I got exactly. I would sure like to get a copy of the test and go over it so that we can use it as study material for our final exam. If anyone feels the same way, please let me know so that we can bring this up to Professor Fang. Thanks

Vasquez

Starbuck

For your information,

I was reading the financial times this morning and discovered a very inteteresting article on starbucks from the chairman. One of his comments was that since we have alot of franchises the coffee is watered down. I am assuming that maybe starbucks has lost its authentic taste. I was shocked to read this from the chairman that's the last person to expect a Derogatory statement such as his. I think starbucks taste is still authentic but maybe others feel the same way as the chariman of starbucks. Some say McDonalds coffe is better tasting than starbucks. I am not really a coffee drinker but occassinally will get a cup of coffee for the splurgee moments in my life. So I really coudln't tell whcih coffee is better tasting. Coffee is just coffee to me as long as it is sweet.

The new language of business

I found an interesting article about a book that was recently published by IBM press named "The New Language of Business: SOA & Web 2.0". The book was written by Sandy Carter who is IBM's vice president of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and web sphere strategy. The book closely applies to what we are learning, it advises companies how to achieve competitive advantage through SOA and links business objectives with IT technology. The Book stresses the importance of utilizing SOA in order to have a competitive advantage and to keep up with competitors. Another main topic in the book is the importance of business flexibility so you can keep up with the rapid change of technology and adapt to new business opportunities. this book seems interesting because it focuses on lots of the lessons we have learned in class.
For more information check it out for yourself:
http://news.tmcnet.com/news/it/-ibm-press-publishes-new-language-business-soa-web-/2007/02/27/2372589.htm

Database growth and problems

Hi everyone,
We had just learned about database and it applications in class. I came across an article from our textbook that caught my interest, so I thought I'll do a summary to share to everyone.

The problem with database growth was raised by an article in our textbook called “Dealing with Database Growth.” Large electronic companies such as Tektronix Corporation and Computerworld was concerned that with database applications average about 800 concurrent users per day could cause performance of database to decline. Even with upgrades, it could not keep up with the growth rate of 1.25 GB per month; there won’t be enough room for storage for all that activities. According to many database administration personnel, we need to do something to remedy the problem before it gets to the point of database crashing.
Some companies solve the problem with just increase their disk-space capacity; “throwing in more disks”, but this cannot solve the problem in the long run. Many had considered deleting old, seldom-used data from database. But this solution is not an easy one because there are data that cannot be deleted due to government laws and regulations. For example, documents such as company’s annual reports, hospitals, doctor offices, and many other health-provider organizations’ administrative procedures and reports must be kept; just to name a few. There are also greater problem for organization operating in foreign countries that has stricter law about data retention comparing to the U.S. Everyone must be actively involved to solve this problem that we are facing, from users to developers. Clear requirements, procedures, and policies are necessary to guide data archiving.

MySpace and Facebook...

We have read the article about reqruiters who check on job applicant's MySpace or Facebook. One of my friend who is working full time as a salesman told me that his customers check on his MySpace to see if he is a right guy to buy the stuff from. Of course he has edited his page. So I guess it is not only reqruiters who is looking up your MySpace.

Opera

Is anyone else using Opera as their browser? I just downloaded it and installed it because I have a lot of trouble using Internet Explorer 7 with WebCT. I couldn't view any of the class PowerPoint slides.

Anyway, Opera is fast. I can't believe how much faster it is than IE 7. You can try it out here:
http://www.opera.com/download/

Surfpup

Supreme Commander

Twas the night before the MIS exam, and Supreme Commander hit the shelves. How do focus on studying with this gaming goodness before me?

Surfpup

Presentation on I/O Devices

This is the presentation slides by the team of I/O devices, afternoon section.

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/HTM_speech_1_slides.ppt

by

Adam Morte
Van Logan
Tom Rollino

Presentation on Storage Device (Afternoon Session)

This is the link to the presentation slides on our field study session from the afternoon section.

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/HTM_304-Field_Study_Presentation-Spring_07.ppt

by
Hector Arreola
Valentin Kifumbi
Keely Ritchie-Boland

can it be true

recent news says that bloggers will take over the world in 2013

Ultracapacitors Battery

Researchers fired up over new battery
Deborah Halber, News Office CorrespondentFebruary 8, 2006
Just about everything that runs on batteries -- flashlights, cell phones, electric cars, missile-guidance systems -- would be improved with a better energy supply. But traditional batteries haven't progressed far beyond the basic design developed by Alessandro Volta in the 19th century.
Until now.
Work at MIT's Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) holds out the promise of the first technologically significant and economically viable alternative to conventional batteries in more than 200 years.
Joel E. Schindall, the Bernard Gordon Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and associate director of the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems; John G. Kassakian, EECS professor and director of LEES; and Ph.D. candidate Riccardo Signorelli are using nanotube structures to improve on an energy storage device called an ultracapacitor.
Capacitors store energy as an electrical field, making them more efficient than standard batteries, which get their energy from chemical reactions. Ultracapacitors are capacitor-based storage cells that provide quick, massive bursts of instant energy. They are sometimes used in fuel-cell vehicles to provide an extra burst for accelerating into traffic and climbing hills.
However, ultracapacitors need to be much larger than batteries to hold the same charge.
The LEES invention would increase the storage capacity of existing commercial ultracapacitors by storing electrical fields at the atomic level.
Although ultracapacitors have been around since the 1960s, they are relatively expensive and only recently began being manufactured in sufficient quantities to become cost-competitive. Today you can find ultracapacitors in a range of electronic devices, from computers to cars.
However, despite their inherent advantages -- a 10-year-plus lifetime, indifference to temperature change, high immunity to shock and vibration and high charging and discharging efficiency -- physical constraints on electrode surface area and spacing have limited ultracapacitors to an energy storage capacity around 25 times less than a similarly sized lithium-ion battery.
The LEES ultracapacitor has the capacity to overcome this energy limitation by using vertically aligned, single-wall carbon nanotubes -- one thirty-thousandth the diameter of a human hair and 100,000 times as long as they are wide. How does it work? Storage capacity in an ultracapacitor is proportional to the surface area of the electrodes.��Today's ultracapacitors use electrodes made of activated carbon, which is extremely porous and therefore has a very large surface area.��However, the pores in the carbon are irregular in size and shape, which reduces efficiency.��The vertically aligned nanotubes in the LEES ultracapacitor have a regular shape, and a size that is only several atomic diameters in width.��The result is a significantly more effective surface area, which equates to significantly increased storage capacity.
The new nanotube-enhanced ultracapacitors could be made in any of the sizes currently available and be produced using conventional technology.
"This configuration has the potential to maintain and even improve the high performance characteristics of ultracapacitors while providing energy storage densities comparable to batteries," Schindall said. "Nanotube-enhanced ultracapacitors would combine the long life and high power characteristics of a commercial ultracapacitor with the higher energy storage density normally available only from a chemical battery."
This work was presented at the 15th International Seminar on Double Layer Capacitors and Hybrid Energy Storage Devices in Deerfield Beach, Fla., in December 2005.
The work has been funded in part by the MIT/Industry Consortium on Advanced Automo`tive Electrical/Electronic Components and Systems and in part by a grant from the Ford-MIT Alliance.

More than everything you ever wanted to know about sound

If you never experienced sound on the early home computers, you may not appreciate how sound technology has improved.

The Apple II computer was a big hit when it was released because it was an affordable personal computer that actually had color output (supported a color monitor). Sound generation basically consisted of writing a software command that caused a tiny built-in speaker to click. Yep, that's it. Clever programmers found that if they clicked the speaker fast enough they could produce a tone. By varying the frequency of the clicks, they could make the tone go higher or lower. You can probably imagine that the sound quality was not high. Considering that the 8-bit CPU only ran at 1 MHz, and lots of software was still written in BASIC (not a fast language), sound generation was quite a burden for the CPU.

Another family of home comuters came onto the scene courtesy Atari. Having some prior experience with video game systems, Atari built these machines with a built-in 4 voice sound generator. This was pretty special for 1979. A programmer could tell one of the sound generators to generate a tone, and then go on to the next task. The sound generator would continue to create the noise, without typing up the CPU, until it was given new instructions. These machines also had a speedy 1.8 MHz CPU, plus they actually had a sort of 2d graphics accelerator built-in (another story). Unfortunately, these machines were saddled with a very slow version of BASIC that was lacking important instructions, and subsequent computer models weren't nearly as revolutionary.

Around 1981, the IBM PC came out and quickly stole the scene. How could you not love a machine with a 8/16-bit CPU running at 4.77 MHz? And if you were willing to pony up the $ for a RGB monitor, you could display 80-column text, IN COLOR! Not nearly as game-friendly as the Atari, the IBM PC had the dreaded built-in speaker for sound.

A company called AdLib created a soundcard for the IBM PC that added 11-voice FM sound synthesis. This became a success, and AdLib support became a standard feature for PC software.

The AdLib board was great at generating music (for its time), but not so great for sound effects. A company called Creative Labs created a board called the SoundBlaster. It had the same FM sound chip (Yamaha) as the AdLib, giving it compatibility with current AdLib software, AND it added a single, 8-bit digital sound channel. This allowed for playback of digitzed sound effects, including speech, and this card became a standard addition to PCs for many years. Many competitors tried to come out with similar cards. Unfortunately, if the cards were too similar, Creative Labs would sue the company. If they were not similar enough, they wouldn't be 100% compatible with the many software titles written for the SoundBlaster. That's basically how we ended up with one company producing the vast majority of sound cards.

The one company to overthrow this dynasty was actually a software company. A company called Microsoft brought out a product called Windows. Programs written for Windows don't talk to the sound hardware directly. They make calls to standardized libraries which talk to the sound hardware via device drivers. As Windows programs replaced DOS programs, there was no longer a need for sound hardware to be 100% compatible with the old SoundBlaster. As long as the sound hardware was compatible with Windows, that's all you needed.

Another development came along. Motherboards started including better quality sound. Intel created a standard called AC'97 which allowed for high-quality 16- or 20-bit sound playback. CPUs became faster and faster. Intel replaced AC'97 in 2004 with a new 32-bit standard called HD Audio. CPUs became faster and split into dual/quad cores. Most motherboards today have at least 5.1 capability onboard. If multimedia speed is of great importance, you will still do best with a hardware-accelerated sound solution, like a card from Creative Labs. Otherwise, most built-in solutions sound great. I prefer chips from Analog Devices to those from Realtek. More on this here: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3948. Make sure you have a digital output (SPDIF) connector on your PC for the highest quality sound, especially for DVD playback.

A final wrinkle in the saga of computer sound comes with Windows Vista. Vista's Direct X 10 has dropped support for hardware acceleration of audio. More info on this development here: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Creative-Enables-3D-Audio-Acceleration-in-Vista-45154.shtml. Will software developers support Creative Labs directly? Or is our built-in sound good enough?

Surfpup

Surfpup's competitive advantage

I've worked in lots of different kinds of jobs. Sales, shipping/receiving, purchasing, operations, management, MIS. There is nothing like first-hand experience to really understand how the different parts of a company work, and how they work together.

I also have lots of computer experience. I know a little bit (just enough to be dangerous sometimes, heh) about a lot of different computer topics. The long breadth of time that I have spent working in and keeping up with the computer industry gives me a different perspective.

I'm hoping that my degree from CSUSM will prove to be a critical advantage. A lot of what I know it difficult to convey on a resume. A college degree is pretty clearcut and opens so many doors.

That's why I'm here!

Surfpup

MIS

I think a lot of companies use the titles Information Systems and Information Techonology interchangeabley, without really paying attention to the difference. They just kind of mean "the computer department." (My last job was in a MIS department, and my current job is in the IT department -- same thing.)
Now that I've read the book, I can say I actually understand the difference.
"Information technology refers to the products, methods, inventions, and standards that are used for the purpose of producing information."
"... an infomation system is a group of components that interact to produce information." [Usually a computer system.]
Hey, after all these years, I finally understand my job titles. :)

Surfpup

Mircosoft's SQL Server

Service Pack 2 for SQL Server arrives
By Renai LeMay, CNET News.com February 20, 2007
Retrieved from CNET Tech News
http://news.com.com/Service+Pack+2+for+SQL+Server+arrives/2100-1012_3-6160641.html?tag=nefd.top

Last week in the lecture on Databases Dr. Fang talked about enterprise database management systems and she mentioned that Microsoft’s SQL server was one of the major ones. On February 20, 2007 Microsoft released the SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, which is a free service pack for its popular SQL Server 2005 database application. This service pack essentially tweaks the existing database software to make it compatible Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 suite. Also included in the update are a number of data compression, manageability and interoperability enhancements. The SQL Server 2005 SP2 can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site.

Microsoft’s SQL server is a well known enterprise database management system and this new service pack will probably be utilized by many organizations. I think it is very interesting that Microsoft must update the database to be compatible with its new operating system and software. It really shows how databases can be affected by changes in technology and so they need to be made compatible with new technology.

My Personal Competitive Advantage

Hey everyone,

After reading the Reflections section in Chapter 2, I think to myself, "what if that happens to me". When I graduate and go out into the workforce looking for a career in the HTM field and find nothing and 2 years later jobs open up, but now my degree isn't as current as newly graduated candidates sounds really discouraging. I hope that is not the case. I would feel like what did I go to school for. I know if I have a competitive advantage over competitors I would have an easier time finding that career.

Right now, I feel my personal competitive advantages are: I get the job done, I work hard, I'm focused on my goals, I'm a quick learner, and I love working in groups and can work by myself. I hope to gain more of the technical side of things through my HTM major.

I know there is a lot of competition out there and you need to set yourself apart from the crowd. There will always be someone better than you, but that doesn't mean you stand around and do nothing. You can always work harder to improve yourself. And that's the only way I will be able to stay in any career, especially HTM. With technology evolving so quickly, I can never stop learning. Otherwise, I will be left behind like the guy in the Reflections reading.

MIS and You

Hey everyone,

This is an old topic, but I'm trying to catch up on my blogging.

My understanding of MIS is information systems that help businesses operate efficiently and effectively. MIS is everywhere. I can't imagine working at my job without an information system in place. Before information systems, it would have been mounds of paper trials. Information systems cut out a lot of the busy work involved in day to day business activities.

I'm a connected to MIS through many aspects of my life. Of course, my job exposes me to information systems. Here at CSUSM, I hope to learn a great deal about MIS and High Tech Management. Being an HTM major brings a lot of possibilities that I am excited about.

This course in MIS will greatly benefit me during my pursuit of a degree in HTM. It is the foundation I need. But it will help me much more once I find a career in the HTM field and a company that will pay me the mad ducketts and truly make me a HTMBaLLuH!!!!

Finding the true Self on MySpace

In class we discussed the fact that companies are expanding their interview scope to include searches for individuals on websites such as MySpace, Facebook and Friendster. Some people may view this as an invasion of privacy, but I think that it is ingenious method to find out who the candidate really is. When looking for a job, or when an employer is looking for an employee, it really is necessary to find the best fit. If the person’s morals and behaviors outside of work are extremely different from the corporate culture then that person may have difficulty fitting in to the company and being successful at the position. Costs to train new recruits are high for the company and if the person fails to work out it results in lost time and money. The goal of any company is to maximize profits for the shareholders, and in the case of small business, the owners. Managers need to minimize waste. If searching on these websites gives them better information on the individual and prevents failures of new recruits to work out, I am all for it. This would then lead to the issue of students being aware of their behavior on and off the internet. If it not something you would want your mom to see, maybe it shouldn’t be posted online for the world to see. If students are more conscientious of their behavior online maybe they will be more conscientious of their behavior offline.

PHU DICTIONARY

The following is the Official Phu Dictionary that we use at work to interpret the statements of our coworker Mr. Phu. It will be updated as new words or phrases are discovered and interpreted.

What Simon Said / What Simon Meant
Afford / Effort
Ahfugdashit / Oh f*** that s***
Air French / Air France
Appendacies / Attendants Seats
Astrology / Strategy
Believe me or not / Believe it or not
Bladder / Brother
Chepple 7 / Triple 7
Chuwelve / Twelve
Copy sicks kamaw / Copy six come out (print outs)
Corporation / Cooperation
Correcting I'm wrong / Correct me if I am wrong
Cosco / Cost Code
Crap / Crab
Doan fugget / Don’t forget
Dow / Doubt
Ems pannehs / ELMS Panels
Enganeer Dwa / Engineering Drawing
For your inform / For your information
Fun Madda / Front Matter
Ground Note / Flag Note
How much bladder you have? / How many brothers do you have?
In a perfect world / In the future
Infor / Info:
Inform / Information
Insorted / Insulted
IPSEX / IPSEC
Jor Kriskey / George Kliskey
Graf the bowl / Drop the ball
Lady and gentlemens / Ladies and Gentlemen
Lock in, lock out / Log off, log back on
Long timesago / A long time ago
Patient / Patience
Prosheja / Procedure
Put in a size / Put it aside
Resort / Resolve
Result / Resolved
Ricebowl / Girlfriend
Scwimp / Screen print
Shenaryo / Scenario
Shue / Show
Shine / Shy
Simpafy / Simplify
Simpafied / Simplified
SP Zoo / SPC2
Whadat means? / What does that mean?

Happy the Year of Pig

Hi, everyone, this Sunday is the 1st day of Chinese (Lunar) new year (also called spring festival).

The coming year is the year of pig, which is regarded as a wealthy year. Wish all of you good luck.

"Gong Xi Fa Cai"

Interviewers searching info about us on websites

Yesterday in class we read an article about companies looking for more personal information about candidates before hiring them. By doing so, they would go to myspace or friendster and other websites. After viewing the websites, the company would think differently of the candidate. The candidate posts personal pictures of themselves or how they party. Those picture actually will reflects on them. Companies judges them from their comments and pictures and refuse to hire them. They're afraid the candidate personal life style or behavior will reflect their company reputation.

I personally think these companies should not jugde candidates from the websites. Yes, some may be unappropiate but at the same time it's their life. Their personal life is different from their career life. I have a friend who is a Financial Advisor, and he is the most professional guy when it comes to his clients and others. But when he's not working and wants to have fun. He'll go out to bars and clubs. He loves to drink and also have a myspace with crazy pictures of himself. However, this does not affect his career. He separates his personal life and his career life. I feel that it's unfair for companies to judge people from website before hiring and getting to know them. "Don't judge the cover book."

How do you guys feel about this?

Slides of Jessica's News Presentation (Evening Session)

Click Here for the Slides. Feel free to comment.

IS News Presentation by Tanya (evening session)

Click Here For the Slides. Welcome to comment

Competitive Advantage

I have found it rather discombobulating to go to school and then graduate to find out the career you finished school for is not hiring at the moment. What a disaster needless to say trying to finsh school is a tough task and then having to find a job in that career is for the most part challenging. I am presently working for invitorgen I am admin assistant which is not primarily what I want to do. But the position I want is already filled, that position probably won't become available for a while unless my competitor decides to quit. Specifically, it is my goal to present unique skills and implement strategies that competitors cannot implement as effectively. I have to Understand that my competitive advantage is critical. It is the reason why I am going to school to market myself effectively. It is what I do best that draws employers to employee me instead of my competitor's. I want to deliberately make choices to be unique and different in activities that I am really, really good at and focus all my energy in those areas.
Sustaining my Advantage Over the Competition
It is not enough just to have an advantage over my competitors. For me to be great, my skills needs to weather competitive and environmental storms. I have to be able to combat today's fierce market forces and uncertainty.

Presentation Summary of Central Proecessing Team (Evening)

By Henry Vasquez, Khoung Nguyen, Akiko Nakai, Philip Shires, and Benjamin Haff

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/MotherboardsC_D.doc

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/CPU_central_processing_unit.doc

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/How_the_products_work_and_function_in_a_computer______system.doc

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/Mother_Presentation.doc

Prices

Stuart's Presentation Slides

Presentation Slides by Stuart Pierce

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/StudentNewsPresentation/Microsoft_Windows_Vista[1].ppt

Enjoy!

Flash Drives

I had never owned a flash drive before, and about a week before the semester started, they were giving them out at work, so I took one. It's not particularly big or fast. I can't believe how much I use it now. It's loaded up with files from 3 of my classes, and I use this everyday now.

One thing you have to remember now is where you have the latest version of documents that you've worked on. I know I accidentally posted an older version of a presentation once, before realizing that the version on the hard drive hadn't been spell-checked properly. Fortunately, I noticed right away and replaced it with the lastes copy from my flash drive.

You'd have to pry this from my cold, dead hand now to take it away.

Always fascinated by technology,

SurfPup

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE SURF

To whom it may concern:
Based on the read in chapter 2 and other readings Wikipedia describes competitive advantage (CA). "(CA) is a position that a firm occupies in its competitive landscape. Michael Porter posits that a competitive advantage, sustainable or not, exists when a company makes economic rents, that is, their earnings exceed their costs (including cost of capital). That means that normal competitive pressures are not able to drive down the firm's earnings to the point where they cover all costs and just provide minimum sufficient additional return to keep capital invested. Most forms of competitive advantage cannot be sustained for any length of time because the promise of economic rents drives competitors to duplicate the competitive advantage held by any one firm."
Create a new product or service:
In terms of my personal competitive advantage with MIS, I am considering myself as the product and service to sell in the market of business management. Most business are looking for an competitive advantage to their competitors.

Enhance products or services:
The method on how I am going to sell my product is to enhance the my knowledge with Information System (IS). The more I can make my self more knowledgeable in MIS, this will give me the confidence in being able to assure the company interested in hiring me that I will help enhance there product and services to compete in the market place.

Differentiate products or services:
IS can provide support for their product in the market. Having a IS department which can develop a system to give technical support is a way differentiate from other distributor/manufacturers.

Lock in customers and buyers:
Establishing a high switching cost in for my client is something they have to consider, once I have established my product and services. On the other hand, If a firm hires me than they will or should be certain that I will develop a system where their on customer will have a hard time switching.

Lock in suppliers:
The same concept as in Lock in customer and buyer will apply here too.

Raise barriers to market entry:
The source of the advantage can be something the company does that is distinctive and difficult to replicate, which intern creates a barrier in the market place.

Establish alliances:
Establishing an alliance with another company will take a greater understanding on how to apply the Information in such a way where other organization work with your system simultaneously.With out interruption with order and development of the product.

Reduce costs:
Now if the company hires me and all the knowledge I have accumulated through the years of experience and education. Organization will need data and information system to help the company to reduce cost, of the product or services they offer in their product.

I believe my personal competitive advantage is , I have multiple years of experience and a few years of education that will differentiate my product and services from other people in the market of business management.

Raul

User-friendly Technology

The Human Factor in Gadget, Web design
By Stefanie Olsen Staff Writer, CNET News.com February 12, 2007
Retrieved from CNET Tech News
http://news.com.com/The+human+factor+in+gadget%2C+Web+design/2100-1008_3-6158224.html?tag=nefd.lede

When we learned about information systems in chapter 1, we learned that people are the most important component of an information system. I think this article is very interesting because it talks about how important the human-factor is in any product/technology development. This articles talks about how user design, understanding the capabilities, limitations and desires of humans, and human-computer interaction, understanding how users interact with technology, product/technology development. Many companies, universities, and even government agencies like NASA are investing time and money taking a hard look at how people interact with technology. Since the number of people using technology has increased greatly over the past few years, the design of the product has become the determining factor in the success of the product. Many organizations, including Google, Microsoft, and NASA, are now utilizing human-computer interaction experts and user design teams in an effort to develop more user-friendly products. Also, many universities are requiring engineering students to learn human-computer interaction skills. Most of the successful technology products that are produced take imagination and thought about the average person, not technological breakthroughs. The article summarizes its point by stating that these days “all technology is so good that it is no longer the differentiator between products rather the differentiator is user interface.”

I agree with this articles point of view. I do not use many technology products, but the products I do use are very user-friendly. I do not want to have to read a big manual to learn how to use a product; I want to be able to read one page and be able to use the product. I want to be able to learn how to use a product quickly, the less steps the better. I just want the product to do what I need it to do. If a product is too difficult to use and I have another option, I will not use the difficult product.

We're Lucky We Can Blog!

People between the ages of 16-24 are less likely to use e-mail as their primary from of communication with their peers. With the advent of sites such as MySpace, FaceBook, and YouTube, younger people choose to use websites as their primary source for online communication. Personally, I use all three websites in my everyday communications with friends. I also use the blog site LiveJournal.

Blog sites are used by people who form communities with the same interests and they are also used by people who enjoy telling their readers what is going on in their lives. My LiveJournal is a mixture of both. I am part of communities interested in graphic design, television shows, and the latest celebrity gossip. If you have a strong interest in something, anything, there is probably a community out there for you! I also enjoy reading my friends’ blogs because with school, work, and an internship, I usually do not have the time to catch up with friends. Reading their blogs keeps me up to date on all the big news and even little happenings at their school what whatnot.

So my point in all of this is to reiterate the fact that blogging is awesome and I’m glad we do it in this class.

My Personal Competitive Advantage

In today's world we as students are faced with heightened competition from other students all over the world. Due to globalization and IT the boundaries between countries are being removed. When we graduate and go out into the world looking for jobs we will be competing with applicants from places like India and China. To some this may be a frightening idea; fears of greater competition further reducing our work and advancement opportunities. However I consider this our, American student's, competitive advantage. Not only are more doors opening for others, but for ourselves as well. It will now be easier for us to compete for jobs in places such as India and China. With the increased competition advancement in all areas of business and IT services will increase creating better and new jobs in fields as yet to be created. As long as we stay ahead of the times and continuously educate ourselves in upcoming facets of business and technology we will remain competitve and the driving force behind revolutionary ideas.

Websites with Computer Info

Some of the websites I check daily that might be of interest to you. These may help be helpful for IS news articles:

http://www.amdzone.com/
http://www.anandtech.com/
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ (mostly audio/video forms, but good info if you are interested in making your PC part of a home theater)
http://www.bluesnews.com/
http://www.dailytech.com/
http://www.eetimes.com/
http://www.extremetech.com/
http://www.firingsquad.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/pc (mostly games)
http://pc.gamespy.com/ (mostly games)
http://www.guru3d.com/
http://www.hothardware.com/
http://pc.ign.com/ (mostly games)
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx (love their cheeky humor, great for first news/rumors)
http://www.ocworkbench.com/index.stm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/
http://www.techreport.com/
http://www.tomshardware.com/index.html
http://ve3d.ign.com/
http://www.vr-zone.com/
http://www.xbitlabs.com/
http://www.zdnet.com/

Software Presentation

Stuart Pierce
Ryan Velasco
David Wyatt

Here is the Software Presentation

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/9/754024/SoftwareVer3.ppt

Slides for Networking (Evening Session)

By Miyuki Akasaka, Michael Bohrer, Collene Kelly, and Ven Tu

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/Presentation2.ppt

Buying Computer Parts in Chinese Electronic Stores

FYI.

In China, most people buy computers by parts and put them together themselves to save some money. You can find really cheap stuff and still bargain to cut the price into half..

Here are some pictures of the warehouses you can buy the parts. It's almost everywhere in China. In the first one, you can even see the word "CPU" there.

Slides for I/O Devices (Evening Session)

By Joe Belton, Patrick Bautista, Ryan Loughlin, Raul Rodriguez

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/Presentation_-_Input_and_Output_Devices_(Dr._Fang).ppt

Slides for Storage Device (Evening Session)

By: Trevor Craig, Jessica Hoy, Vinh Phan, and Yusuke Gemma

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/Hardware_powerpoint.ppt

Software Slides (Evening Session)

By:
Tanya Lastrilla
Cynthia Rogers
Gustavo Rayo
Shannon Villarroel
Arash Zarrinbakhsh

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/HTM304_SoftwarePPTUpdate[1].ppt

Slides of Networking Device (Afternoon Session)

Hi, here is the link of the slides of networking devices, by Hang, Jared, and David.

http://www.csusm.edu/fangfang/Teaching/HTMmaterial/New_Folder/Hang.ppt

Feel free to add comments to the team

Central Processing slides (Afternoon Session)

Here are the Central Processing Presentation slides from the afternoon. I had to upload them onto a FTP site.

Central Processing Slides

Let's comment on the presentations

What do you like? As the teams post up their slides, you can add a comment to their presetations.

recent news

The analysts said that during the middle of next year the number of blogs will level out at about 100 million
Last month blog tracking firm Technorati reported that 100,000 new blogs were being created every day, and 1.3 million blog posts were written.
Technorati is tracking more than 57 million blogs, of which it believes around 55% are "active" and updated at least every three months.
Gartner also predicted that:
By 2010, the average total cost of ownership of new PCs will fall by 50%
By 2010, 60% of the worldwide cellular population will be "trackable" via an emerging "follow-me internet"
By the end of 2007, 75% of enterprises will be infected with undetected, financially motivated, targeted malware that evaded their traditional perimeter and host defences

Battery Technology

Boston Power Intros New Notebook Battery Technology
By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 1/30/2007 7:01:00 AM
Palm Desert, Calif. — Boston Power, a maker of cellphone and PDA batteries, today introduced a new notebook battery technology that the company says can be recharged in 30 minutes and has a longer lifetime than those now on the market.
The battery will first launch through Hewlett-Packard this summer and is not expected to add any additional cost to a notebook.
Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud, CEO and founder of Boston Power, said the lithium-ion-based battery will hold a four-hour charge and can be recharged to 80 percent of its capacity in just 30 minutes. This should enable business users to charge the computer during their lunch hour so it can last the rest of their business day, she said.
The Boston Power battery should retain its four-hour capacity for the entire expected life of a notebook, which is about three years, Lampe-Onnerud said. With last fall’s recall disasters surrounding notebook batteries in mind, she said, Boston Power designed the batteries with safety in mind. However, she did not go into any detail on what makes the batteries safer

Blog Topic of the Week

I decided to answer this week’s blog topic of the week “what is your personal competitive advantage?” from a hypnotically view of what my personal competitive advantage will be when I graduate from school.

In three and a half years when I go out into the business world my product will be an accounting bachelor’s and master’s degree from a national ranked business school. I can enhance this product by participating in internship programs and joining academic clubs at my university. My product will be differentiated from other people’s products because I will have a high GPA, and I will have actively participated in academic clubs. Internships will help me to lock in relationships with buyers, possible future employers. The school that I will graduate from and my GPA will raise barriers to entry for others who are competing with me for jobs. My education and internships will help me to reduce costs for my employer because they will have to spend less money training me and I could possibly develop something that could help them save money.

MIS...

To me, MIS is the most helpful and needed for people to understand nowadays.
Because Management information systems are the development and use of information systems that help business achieve their goals and objectives as definition says.
My major is business management and I need to understand and figure out well to be on this area. Not only that I’ve been doing online business and I use MIS a lot to manage my business. Managing all information about customers is one of the most important things for me to take care of. I also would like to know well about five components that MIS carries; hardware, software, data, procedures, and people. I will learn more about MIS through this course. I hope everything is going to be well working for my life.

Open source

From what I have read I haven’t heard very much on the subject of open source programs. This software has a very large benefit over the usual operating systems. By allowing the public to the coding the possibilities for refining the software are endless. Unlike Windows, which limits their code, open source like Linux and Unix allow anyone to view and modify the code.

The advantages are people can rewrite the program to their needs. Another advantage is the cost is much less. There is no company that you have to pay for licenses. And the size of the operating system is smaller. This allows smaller devices to have a full operating system.

The disadvantage is if your company uses the software and improves upon the programming that work can not be copyrighted. This has limited some companies from using it because they don’t want the public knowing all of the source code to their products.

MIS

After reading chapter I discovered that MIS is very useful and informative. My major is service sector which is business management. MIS plays a very important component in my major. I will need MIS kknowledge to be an informed and effective consumer of information technology product and services. MIS stands for management information system. MIS helps business achieve their goals and objectives.

In order to manage effectively I need this knowledge to ask pertinent questions and to make wise decisions pertaining to the oraganization or company I decide to manange. I should have the fundamental of MIS. There are many terminologies that I need to learn to make them apart of my fabric of my business thinking. After digesting the majority of this information I found it rather useful for my organization. Technology is the key component to every office. We need telecommunication technology to run an office effectively.

Information system should meet our needs. I have found having a data base of former attendes of my conferee is very vital tool to have. I am able to keep track of all my attendes and send out brocuhures, fliers, emails and newsletters to all of my former registered guest. Information system is a must every offices needs this, theres no way getting around it. Computer system keeps an organization running smoothly and it can also be a disaster if you don't have back up information saved to an disk or CD. MIS is the link to my management skills and my major. Overall MIS is great tool to have to manage a small or enormous corperation. This componet is very vital and is great mechanism for business managment.

Software piracy-Gorbachev to Gates: Show mercy for pirate

Gorbachev to Gates: Show mercy for pirate
By Reuters February 5, 2007
Retrieved from CNET Tech News
http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-6156306.html

We just talked about owning versus licensing in chapter 3. Our textbook uses Microsoft as an example of licensing because they sell the right to use their various programs but they continue to own the programs. I can across this article that I think is very relevant to owning versus licensing discussion. It talks about Mikhail Gorbachev asking Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to intercede on behalf of a Russian teacher accused of using pirated software in his classroom. Microsoft is charging the teacher with violating Microsoft's intellectual-property rules by using computers in his school that contained unlicensed copies of the firm's software. Gorbachev asked him to show mercy and withdraw the complaint against the teacher because he lives in a remote village and did not know he was committing a crime. Microsoft responded by saying that the case against him was filed by Russia and that they have no plans to make a civil claim against the teacher. Microsoft also stated that they are confident that the Russian courts will make a fair decision.

I find this case to be very interesting because it appears to be influenced by the fact that Russia is cracking down on piracy in an effort to join the World Trade Organization. It appears to me as though Russia is making an example out of this teacher rather than considering the validity of the case. Whether or not my opinion is true this article is still a beneficial one for anyone who uses software. The Ethics Guide in chapter 3 on page 61a-61b provides a good discussion on piracy and how companies are trying to prevent it. The software piracy in the above mention article appears to be on a small scale, but Russia is not viewing it as such. If we, as a society, really want to stop software piracy I feel that we should fix the problem by making so that it is not possible to pirate software rather than punishing random people.

Salary Website

Heres a little salary survery result for business majors.....

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Bachelor_of_Science_in_Business_Administration_and_Management_Information_Systems_(BSBA-MIS)/Salary

...pretty interesting and promising

MIS surf

To whom it may concern,

My understanding of MIS:
MIS stand for Management Information System. According to Kroenke M David, author of Using MIS we define MIS is "the development and use of information systems that help businesses acheive their goals and objectives". Development and use, information system, business goals and objective is vital elements for and organization to consider on how their information system (IS) will be developed. The five fundamental components of the information system: computor hardware, software, data, procedures and people are to be considered an assembly of of components which IS will use to develope an effiecient system.

My use of MIS:
My use of MIS will be efficiently and effectively acheive business goals and objective in an organiztion. People with in the organization will help me develop and use of the information system which will work well for the organization.

My connection of MIS:
Throughout my occupational carreer in production and design MIS has been very vital in communication within the company. Understanding how a information system is developed and which components I should be aware about while I communicate with IS on which Information technogoly is needed for the organization to achieve efficient and effective business goals. Good information should be accurate, timely, relavant, just barely sufficient and worth its cost, so collection of this data will need to be stored in a information system which is user friendly for departments like: Marketing, Engineering, Accounting, Purchasing Etc..


My MIS course benefits:
As young professional sufficient MIS knowledge is vital in understanding information technology products and services. I should be able to ask questions that are pertinent and correctly interpet what system the IS department is developing. This course will help me make wise decisions and to manage effectively. Understanding and being able to ask question will help me find and develop a user friendly information system suitable for all departments in the oraganization.


Regards,
Raul

Blog Topic of the Week

I think that MIS, if used correctly, are systems that make it easier for a business to do what it wants to do and what it already does. For example, accounting tasks can be done by hand, but QuickBooks makes the task much easier. Some examples of MIS are touch-screen voting. Voting can be done by hand, but this MIS technology makes it easier for the government (a business) to achieve its goals and objectives. Other examples of MIS are wiretapping systems and an online hotel reservation systems.

I use MIS when I register through CSUSM's online registration system or when I use the self-check-in station at the airport. Right now I am connected to MIS mainly through my everyday life, but once I get my degree in accounting I will be connected to MIS daily through my job.

I think that this course will benefit in two main ways. First, I am not very technologically savvy and this course will force me to learn more about technology. This course will challenge me to step outside my technology comfort zone and the knowledge that I will gain will be important for my career. The second benefit I will get from this course is that I will understand technology better and not get frustrated as often with my computer. I am sure that my computer will appreciate me yelling at it less :) I look forward to learning about MIS this semester and blogging with y'all.

MIS for me is the management of computers and networking such as LANs, MANs, and WANs to transfer information. Even though I have a degree in CIS: Computer Repair and Inter-networking and done some hands-on work on troubleshooting PC problems and setting up networks, I still believe there is an ocean of information that still needs to be charted.

MIS

Provide me with a greater understanding of the advances in IT systems and how to better utilize those systems.

mis will help me keep a data base of all the people on my list that are in the way of me becoming a legend. my goals and objectives will be achieved with the support of mis and my trusty gold pistol.