Laptop on the Go

Just the other day I was in class and realized that I had forgotten to write a paper that was due for the class I had next. I quickly pulled out my computer and started to type up a rough overview of the movie we had watched in class. About twenty minutes into my paper the teacher said that the class was over. I had only complete about half and needed to go from one side of campus to the other. So I reluctantly put my computer to sleep and quickly run to my next class. I ended up not finishing it on time and turned it in for a late grade.

If only I had the Connect-A-Desk Laptop Holder would I have been able to turn my paper in on time. The Connect-A-Desk Laptop Holder does exactly what the name says. It is a portable computer desk so that you can compute while on the move. The holder is supported by straps that go over your shoulders. It folds out a flat surface to place your laptop upon and it hangs low enough to make it comfortable for your arms to reach the keyboard. The Laptop Holder can support any size of laptop and it is completely mobile. You do not even have to take it off when sitting down; you can just slide it onto the desk in front of you and then it is ready to go when you are about to leave. The holder is compact able, making it easy to put in a bag and take on trips.

Image you can now move from class to the next without ever having to get off Facebook. You can walk with friends and do homework at the same time. There is no reason you should ever have to leave your computer home again with the Connect-A-Desk Laptop Holder.

What's the Problem!?!?!

I was sitting at my computer, not really sure what to write, so I went to my staple website, Facebook.com. I stared at the screen for what seemed like a few seconds, but 10 minutes had already gone by. So now, ten minutes later, I still had no topic, but I did now know who was dating who. This information was irrelevant in my search though, so I attempted to forget about it. I searched for new technology news, and still found nothing. Back to facebook. I was thinking about how I'm a stereotypical college student. "When life gets hard, turn to facebook." That is the motto of today's generation. Suddenly it hit me. Facebook is a huge tool used by so many college students today. I had a main topic, I just needed to find something to write about facebook. Wait... didn't they just release their new layout, and everyone hates it? Perfect.
The new facebook was launched in September, with the hopes that the users could "focus on the recent and relevant content on the site," according to creator Mark Zuckerberg. But, it seems that people are not pleased at all with the new design. The change is not a good one in this case, and people don't know what to do. Groups about boycotting facebook are being joined (as soon as members find out how to navigate the facebook layout). Millions of people world-wide are not very happy with this design, and don't know where to turn.
What is so wrong with the new design? Honestly? I was a little confused at first, but now that I'm using it more and more, I like it more and more. I think teens are more afraid of stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something new. I want feedback in my comments about this. What is so wrong about the new facebook? I am calling an all english class discussion.
Zuckerberg said this about the changes and the comments against the new layout. "Facebook is a work in progress. We constantly try to improve things and we understand that our work isn't perfect. We appreciate the thousands of you who have written in to give us feedback. Even if you're joining a group to express things you don't like about the new design, you're giving us important feedback and you're sharing your voice, which is what Facebook is all about."

Geek Sites

First off I apologize for my last blog being extremely long. So I thought I would make this one quick so that you do not have to read so much. I was going to mention the websites that have given me a good deal of these interesting topics. The first one would have to be thinkgeek.com which my fellow blogger showed me. This site is filled with random things for your average geek. They sell computers, games, and even Halo t-shirts. The other site I recommend you go to would have to be geek.com. This site is like thinkgeek.com but they do not sell as many items. They have more articles about new gadgets and new technology. I will wrap it up and just tell you to keep looking for new technology and explore the world out there.

Impenetrable Flash Drive

It is a Wednesday you are sitting in the library working on writing your blogs. You look up to take a quick brake from working and notice a guy walking away from the table your sitting at. Just a moment ago without your knowledge your thumb drive as removed from your laptop. You look back down and continue to work; a few minutes later the same man walks back by your seat and put the flash drive back. Within those few minutes the man has stolen all your information off the flash drive and now has all your personal information. This is the perfect opportunity for someone to commit identity fraud and do whatever they want with ‘you’. As college students we have to worry about people trying to steal our work or our identities. An answer has been found and it is called the Ironkey.

The Ironkey is an 8GB USB flash drive. It was created for the government to use in the Middle East but now is available to the public. The Ironkey utilizes the newest advancements in security technology. The outer skin of the flash drive is created with a metal sheet making it very hard to crack or break. The Ironkey is equipped with a hardware encryption chip. This chip scrambles all the data so that it is unusable without the correct password. You might be thinking that it is easy to crack a password but the Ironkey has a solution for those who wish to steal from you. If the password is entered in incorrectly ten times the USB drive instantly sends an electrical surge throughout the drive which wipes the data off of it. So do not ever forget your password otherwise you will end up with a blank drive.

One password encryption sometimes is not that hard to crack so the creators added two more. Yes, that is three encryption codes built on top of one another. Let me break it down for you, there is a 128-bit AES, Advanced Encryption Standard, encryption on all the data that is stored on the drive. Then there is a separate 256-bit AES encryption on the password that solves the 128-bit encryption. And just to make it more complicated they put a SHA 256 hash encryption on the 256-bit encryption. Ok that probably sounds like a whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo, so let me simply it. First the higher the bit count the more possible solutions there are so the harder it is to crack. The creators put a simple encryption on the data which is solvable with the password you use. Then they put a harder encryption on the password itself and put an even better encryption on that. Basically it is almost impossible to crack without the right password.

There is one finally safety measure to tell you about and it has to deal with preventing people from physically opening your flash drive. The contents of the USB drive are coated with an epoxy. The epoxy fills up all the open spaces and turns hard to create one giant solid object. This makes it useless to break into the Ironkey because they will most likely damage the encryption chip. Without that chip they would not be able to read the encrypted data.

The Ironkey is probably one of the most secure computer items I have ever seen. This flash drive would be a great asset to anyone who needs to keep personal information, personal.

Cha Cha Cha, Engine

Have you every gotten in a fight with one of your friends about a simple question like how many children does Angelina Jolie have now and your sure you know the right answer and you want to prove your friend wrong? Well there's a new style of search engine called ChaCha. If your on the go and no where close to a computer you can use your phone to figure out the answer. You might think this is the same as say the iPhone but this is an actual person on the other side texting you back the answer. It doesn't take long and he feeds you back a simple 1 sentence answer. Its a little different then putting a word into a search and getting lists of different places to redirect to to get your answer. 

I strongly suggest college students start using this because it will make there lives a whole lot easier. If they ever need a simple answer to a question they have rattling in there head like what is the equation of the product rule for derivatives then ChaCha is there to help. Its not just for school work but can be used if your stuck on crossword puzzles or any other type of brain drainer. If you want a simple joke to lighten your mood for the day you can do that. So this simple tool at your finger tips will help the College student with lots of different problems.

If you are intrested yourself about using this the number to text is 242242. 

Music? For Free? Where Do I Sign Up?

Okay, so you are a poor college student that loves music. There is no way you are going to pay for new music that comes out, so what are you going to do? There are not a huge amount of options, what with this whole file sharing fiasco going on in the media. Luckily, I have once again sacrificed my time to find you your resources.

The site is called Ruckus.com. Ruckus is a file sharing network that you can use with a college email address. All you have to do is get onto the website, and put in a valid college email. That's it! From there, you download the music player that supports the files Ruckus uses, and you play the music directly. This site has many obscure artists, and many live albums not able to be found in stores. It truly is a gift from the musical gods.

Drawbacks to this site are as follows: You can only play the music through their own special music player. The files are a super special type that only plays through the Ruckus Player. That means that it has to stay on your machine. You are not allowed to transfer it to any portable music device. So, if you love to listen to music outside of your room, you are screwed. Unless, you want to illegally download a file conversion device that allows you to convert the file type to anything you want. Not usually the best idea to break the law, in my honest opinion

Where's the WiFi?

The other day I was walking around trying to find a good place to do my homework. I sat down outside so I could use WiFi to get on the Internet. I turned on my computer and started searching for my good friend, PAL2.0. After a few minutes of the computer not being able to find anything I packed up and walked a hundred feet to a nearby bench. I turned my computer on again and was still unable to receive a WiFi connection. At his point I was starting to get annoyed because caring around a 17” laptop is a bit of a hassle. I am pretty sure Purdue has WiFi throughout campus but why is it whenever I try to connect it never can.

Last night I discovered the perfect item to help me with finding WiFi when I need it. It actually attaches to your wrist and you can use it to keep time. Yes, it is a watch. A watch that tells you time and if there is a WiFi connection available. The watch has a button on it that when activated turns on a mini receiver that checks for WiFi connections. The only down side of the watch is that it cannot determine if the connection is secured or not. So the watch may find a working WiFi but when you try to connect you are denied because you are trying to access a network that does not want you. The watch is also water resistant up to 100 meters so if you ever need to find WiFi underwater you can.

The WiFi watch would be a great help to me and I believe it would also be a great help to all of you too. So now if you have to get some homework done and you do not want to work with your annoying roommate around, go outside and use WiFi.