Hacking: Is the term being over used?

I am no professional hacker, but IT security has always been a big interest for me. After competing in the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition my Junior year of College, and learning about different methods; DOS,DDOS,SQL Injection, and others. Compared to the average college student, I would consider myself to be quite aware and knowledgeable of IT Security and hacking.

Hacking is defined as:

• Use a computer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system.

• Gain unauthorized access to (data in a computer).

So why am I arguing that the term is over used?
We have all seen Social Media posts where someone leaves their computer on and their friend makes a status for them, usually a joke, then claiming they "hacked" their friend. That is not hacking, that is simply your friend leaving their computer on, and you using it.


The news is also starting to use this term when it is not necessary as well. On October 15th Yahoo News released an article titled "'Place Hacking': New global movement to find adventure in forbidden places".
The article explains how these "hackers" are sneaking onto old military bases, hospitals, and other locations and calling it "place hacking".
10 years ago this would simply be called Trespassing: Entering land without proper permission. Relating to my definition of hacking above, you can see there is no computer use here, and no gain of data from a computer by an individual simply walking on a piece of land. So yet again this is not hacking.

In conclusion, as technology becomes more prevalent in everyone's daily lives, people should understand terms related with different technologies before using them. This same method of understanding something before saying it holds true to almost everything. For example: Being a passenger on a plane does not mean I know anything about flying it, or being a Pilot.

-Alex

Windows 8.1 is Here!

The next big thing is here again! Microsoft officially released 8.1 as an update on October 17th. The biggest feature to return is the start button. Although it doesn't exactly mimic its older counterpart it is still nice to have the button back.

Other features include the ability to split apps at any point on the screen, instead of just at the thirds. 8.1 also allows for multiple apps to run at once on different screens. Finally, the benefit I found the most critical, the drivers for windows have all been improved. The update was released in a beta version as a .iso file a long time ago, however, users with this version will have to re-install their regular windows, and re-install their apps.

From the launch of the new operating system, Microsoft has been plagued with complaints over how not user-friendly the interface is for non-touch screen systems. I personally have not experienced any undue difficulty with operating without a touch screen beyond a relatively short learning curve. I've grown to embrace the new apps, and the side-by-side views. I am definitely in the minority on this one. Whether Microsoft has solved all of their problems remains to be seen.

Search Engine Optimization and Google

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is intended to increase a website's visibility and click-ability on search engine results pages, in particular Google.  The ultimate goal is to have a high ranking organic search.  Organic results are purely dependent on search engines model for delivering relevant search results.  Second to organic are paid results which are often pay-per-click and appear at the very top and right hand side of results page.  Various methods can get a site to prime organic or paid spots.

Organic:

 There are three classifications in ethics related to SEO.  White hats are at the top of their ethics game and avoid questionable methods.  Next there are gray hats they have a tendency to take some ethical liberties.  Black hats use unethical tactics such as gateway pages, cloaking, and link farms.  Acting as a white hat in promoting a site can take the form of proper title, meta-tags, and descriptions which aid in guiding search engines in finding sites being promoted.

Paid:

Google paid results are populated based on three criteria relevance to the search, click through rate, and landing page quality. This insures that all parties involved are satisfied.  Advertisers are paying for proper placement, users are finding relevant results and Google is fulfilling its intended mission.




-Marie

Googles Operating System

For those who are not aware, Google is now launching an Operating System called Chromium OS. Chromium will be an OS designed for users who primarily use their computers for surfing the web. Google states that their goal is to create "an open-source project that aims to build an operating system that provides a fast, simple, and more secure computing experience for people who spend most of their time on the web"

Open Source is defined as: denoting software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.
Yes you heard that right the Google operating system will be FREE.

As you can see in the following screenshot. Chromium OS is attempting a minimalist approach in the user interface. While the default programs seen are very minimal and simple (Just a web browser, and an email client). Google will also have multiple apps available to download on the OS.




One great app you may find useful is something Google is referring to as "Chromoting" which is simply a remote desktop connection to your computer at home.While Chromoting you will be able to run your home computer remotely from the device that you have Chromium OS installed on, and have access to all of the files on your home computer. For those of you wondering about current Android apps native to Google as well, yes there will still be Netflix on Chromium OS!
The Chromium OS will roll out on Chromebooks, which are basically Google Netbooks. These devices generally have a small amount of internal storage using a Solid State Drive or SSD, so Google has already gone a step ahead an incorporated the Google drive to help manage your files. If you chose to opt-out of Google drive as I had mentioned before native Android apps will work, so options such as Dropbox will be available as well.


This is a great example on how Cloud Computing is becoming the next big thing. Google has always been a power player in the IT world, and it should be exciting to see how Chromium OS turns out.

-Alex

Windows Mobile - The iPhone killer, or the next Zune?

Windows Mobile is attempting a comeback in a big way. Since Microsoft first began their work in the mobile market in 1990 they have never been quite successful. Their latest attempt is the Nokia Lumia series. These phones run the Windows Phone 8 Operating System, the latest offered by Microsoft. The new OS falls in line with Microsoft's strategy to unify user interfaces across all of your devices. WP8 features the 'live tiles,' similar to Windows 8 for computers, that can show real time updates from news sources, social media, and other applications. The biggest selling point, judging by their marketing campaign, is the 41 megapixel camera that comes with the Lumia 1020. That is 3 times more than the Samsung Galaxy S4 (13mp) and 5 times more than the iPhone 5s (8 mp). However, I for one am not convinced that this feature alone can push Nokia/Microsoft into a serious contender in the smartphone market.

This biggest drawback to running a Windows Phone that I see are the apps. According to pcworld.com, the Windows Marketplace just reached 100,000 apps in July. In comparison, the Apple App store hit 775,000 as of January 2013 (about.com), and Google Play, the primary android app store, reached 1,000,000 in July 2013 (readwrite.com). While I'm sure that the Windows numbers will continue to grow, they have a lot of ground to catch up to keep up with Apple and Google.