Phone Interviews

I recently completed a phone interview for a company I am interested in interning at for next summer, and after the phone call I couldn't help but wonder what the purpose a phone interview served.  Yes it is an easy way to get information about a potential employee, and the employer doesn't need to receive the candidate at the door of the company.  However I believe phone interviews fail to provide a fraction of the feedback an employer would get through an in person interview.

On the phone, the two participants in the interview do not get to see each other, or shake hands, or any kind of body language or facial expressions.  Some humor is lost, and light jokes cracked over the phone go over awkwardly and without much feedback.  Jokes like this usually lead to a silence with the interviewer trying to ask another question, not fun.  By receiving physical feedback via body language and facial expressions etc. the interviewee can better gauge how they are doing and adapt to meet the interviewer's feedback.  The interviewer can also better gauge who would fit in their company better or who they would rather take on board.

This got me thinking, what other aspects of life do we miss out on by choosing to conduct our social interaction via devices and various mediums of technology.  Conversations between loved ones and significant others can be conducted via text messages or social media messaging.  Technology is not completely new to the social interaction scene however.  Telephones have been around for a long time and have served couples well.  This does not only apply to significant others chatting with each other though, friend groups and even in the work place can be affected as well.  Friends will sometimes not hang out as much in favor of communication online or through a video game.  Getting together to hang out seems less appealing than sitting comfortably in your home watching Netflix or something.  Even collaborating for work, whether it be school or in a company, can get tricky with the presence of technology.  Group members might not want to meet up to work on a project, and instead simply message each other whenever they run into a problem, electing to work alone.

A phone call to get to know an interview candidate isn't always a bad thing, it can be used to gauge initial interest in an individual and learn their skill set.  However, in person interviews should always be conducted, they are easier for both parties.  As for communication between significant others, friends, coworkers or fellow students, technology does help with getting in touch, but it could also take away from the value of meeting one another in person.

The Generation of "Likes" and "Followers"

After reading various articles and posts about the Instagram model named Essena O’Neil who “quit” social media, and performing the tech-journal exercise it has caused me to do a lot of thinking about the affects social media has on society today. I also came to the conclusion that although it may seem as if someone has it all or is living an exciting life on social media platforms such as Instagram, it could be the furthest thing from the truth.

            Essena O’Neil is 18 years old and was an Instagram model until she recently decided to get rid of all of her social media accounts because they do not depict “real life” O’Neil would make around $1400 per post and had over 600,000 followers. O’Neil said she deleted her accounts, for that everything she posted was edited in order to gain more likes and followers. If one was just looking at O’Neil’s posts they would think how beautiful she was and how she has the perfect body, but in reality her photos were altered and edited, and she was not truly happy. Since quitting social medial, O’Neil has deleted her accounts she has started her own website called letsbegamechangers.com, which has the main goal to promote conscious living and to generate conversation about social issues.

            After reading about Essena O’Neil, another story came to mind. Two years ago a college freshman, at the University of Pennsylvania, by the name of Madison Holleran committed suicide. Holleran had been suffering from anxiety and depression since coming to college, and sought help but she tragically took her own life after returning from winter break her freshmen year. Those who knew her and even outsiders said she always looked happy and especially how her social media pages portrayed her as being happy and looked like she was really enjoying herself at college, but it was the furthest thing from the truth. This heartbreaking story is another example of how misleading social media can be. Although it may have seemed she was enjoying the life of a college freshmen, she was actually struggling and very unhappy. This story is another example of how misleading social media can truly be, and that just because someone is portraying as if everything is okay, it can be the furthest thing from the truth. And we as society need to stop using social media to validate whether or not someone is happy.  

            This past week we had to keep a log of all of the times we used technology in a day for our class. After completing this assignment, I was appalled how much I used technology, but more specifically how much of the time I spend on social media sites, such as Instagram and Facebook. I analyzed how constantly looking at my friends’ pages made me feel, and most of the time it would not make me feel good. Numerous thoughts crossed my mind such as, I wish I could be doing that, why can’t I be having that much fun, or why don’t I look like her. I realized that I need to limit my use of social media because it is doing more harm than good. I also came to the conclusion, especially after reading the stories about the two young women, that everything is not what it seems, and that it is very easy to hide things over social media. It is important that this generation stops worrying about getting the most likes or more followers, and rather to just live in the moment and to not worry about what others are doing and try to compare to them.  

"Swatting" and the Underworld of Twitch

            “Swatting” is becoming a dangerous problem in the streaming community. The term “swatting” is where malicious users, through use of an IP address of a target, can call a SWAT team to infiltrate the target mid-stream. Although “swatting” didn’t start on Twitch (many celebrities in the past such as Ashton Kutcher, Justin Timberlake, and Rihanna), the phenomenon is definitely more prevalent on the site due to increased Internet speeds and user accessibility.

            The attacks usually originate from “internet trolls” or malicious users on Twitch. The process of obtaining IP, usually through the user’s Skype account, has been made even easier with the use of “Skype resolvers” where anyone can input a Skype username and find their IP address. The attacks usually start with a DDoS attack, or “Distributed Denial of Service.” This attack is one of the easiest to accomplish and only requires the IP address of the target and a moderate level of technical ability. Once the attacker finds the desired IP address, they then swamp the target’s network with traffic, effectively shutting down the network.

            One example involved a woman named Janet and her attacker under the fitting alias “Obnoxious.” Jane spent much of her time on Twitch, and as a female she was subject to more hostility than men. Obnoxious, like many other attackers, was a depressed kid with a troubled past who wanted to just cause trouble for no reason. He started out with simply messaging women, looking for a friend. If they didn’t respond he would escalate his attacks, from ordering unappetizing pizzas to targets’ homes to sending massive “text bombs” to eventually threatening to dispatch a SWAT team to either their or their parents’ homes. Here is a sample of what Obnoxious would message targets:

            Obnoxious threatened to post her “dox” publicly, which allows anyone visiting sites like doxbin to find and sell people’s dox documents. A “dox” is a document of your private information posted online for anyone to see and exploit. Doxing makes you vulnerable to all sorts of mischief, from phone harassment to even credit-­card fraud. Obnoxious was able to obtain this sort of information for dozens of women. He mainly did it by ­calling Internet companies and tricking customer-­service representatives over the phone. He would use one small piece of public information, like a birthday or a favorite pet, to get yet another from one company, and then he would use the new piece to get more information from a different company.

Some of his victims took long breaks from doing what they love due to fear of further harassment. ‘‘I just wanted to be alone,’’ says Alexa Walk, who was swatted by Obnoxious at her apartment in North Carolina. ‘‘I didn’t want people to see me upset.’’  Obnoxious, like many other attackers, used different aliases at the same time to flood chats with threats of DDoS attacks and dumping dox files publicly.

As the Internet grows and video game streaming and esports become even more prevalent, so does the risk of “swatting.” Even though no one can truly be “safe” from malicious users like Obnoxious, it’s important to know the danger of what these attackers can do. Eventually the Canadian police arrested the suspect, charging him with 46 counts, including criminal harassment, public mischief and extortion. With the help of the police and strong willed users, perhaps one day the Internet will be free of these malicious attackers once and for all.  

Hour of Code: Minecraft

Hour of Code is a project designed to get different people interested in programming and computer science, regardless of age, gender, nationality, or technical expertise. It serves as a short introduction into the world of code, by allowing each individual to do as much coding as they can learn in an hour with guided expertise. The Hour of Code is extremely encouraging as it does not discourage people from writing either more simple or few lines of code, nor does it discourage them from really getting involved with the code. It is an event for anyone. Although not extremely complicated, when the Hour of Code sparks an interest in an individual, it has served its purpose.

The article “Microsoft Retools Minecraft to Teach Kids to Code” from Tech News World, discusses Microsoft’s recent announcement of participating in the Hour of Code project using Minecraft. Using Minecraft as a medium in Hour of Code mostly targets younger kids. This can be good because many kids have played Minecraft, and even if they haven’t they have probably seen it or heard of it. If a child has played Minecraft, they will be even more excited about the Hour of Code project. It has to do with something familiar that they enjoy. I believe that video games can be an important tool in interesting young students in programming.

First, many children already have an interest in video games; showing them something new they can do within or with them. In the video within the article, the creator of Minecraft mentioned that he himself sparked an interest in programming from video games.

Second, many games, especially Minecraft provide modding opportunities to those especially interested in programming. Modding for Minecraft is incredibly easy with the amount of free tutorials online, and communities willing to help you learn how to create your own mod. Many kids start off programming in just this way. They see something they like, and they want to make it better or more customized. An Hour of Code may not be as in-depth as modding is, but for those who never thought that they could do something like program, or for those who are a little uncertain that they can do something, this may be the perfect push into the world of code.

Certain games can encourage coding skills within them as well. For example, Minecraft has red-stone circuits, which allow one to built their own logic circuits. There are other games where the player can actually code certain actions as well, through a system similar to the one used by Hour of Code. More games could encourage learning of code through play like this.

Technology and computers are such a big part of today’s world that it is useful to know at least a little bit of programming. It is important to encourage younger children to learn how to code. Although not everyone will be a young talent or a future computer scientist, the basic skills of logic and programming are helpful to know. Games are a good medium to talk through to kids. More games should get involved like Minecraft and encourage children to code a little on their own.

References:

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Microsoft-Retools-Minecraft-to-Teach-Kids-to-Code-82767.html

Artificial Intelligence and Art

          It’s always really interesting to see artificial intelligence being used to make art (or at least artistically-inspired creations of some sort) because I feel like we often view art as a very human thing that a computer would never be able to fully understand.  There have been a few examples of this that I’ve seen, but the most recent one that I found in this article on engadget is an app called “WordsEye”.  The idea behind the app is really interesting; basically what it does is use natural language processing to analyze a written description you give it, and then it turns that description into a visual scene of some sort.  Now, as stated in the article, the app is limited by the models it has and the words it understands (you have to write in a very specific and precise way for it to understand you correctly), but some of the results are pretty interesting.  Theoretically, I suppose it could be used to bring ideas out of your head and put them into some sort of visual context, but since I don’t think most people think so specifically about what art they want to create, it’s probably just something cool to play around with (though, unfortunately, to do so you have to sign up for beta access as of right now).  As a side note, I think it would be really cool to take excerpts from books with really descriptive writing on scenery or people and see what this thing spits out. 

The real interesting thing here, however, is the idea of people creating “artificial intelligence” based around artistic or creative output.  This is hardly a new thing, but two other really great examples are Google’s recently released “Deep Dream” software and a program called “The Painting Fool” which was created by computer scientist Simon Colton all the way back in 2001.  Deep Dream was created using the same image-recognition AI that Google used for its reverse-image search and Photos app.  To describe it in the most simple was possible, it basically takes an inputted image/video and, using its trained recognition, it then reconstructs that image/video based on what it “sees”.  The results of this can be really amazing and show just how trippy and psychedelic a neural network’s vision of the world can look (although, to be fair, Deep Dream’s knowledge base is a bit limited).  The Painting Fool, on the other hand, was made to “paint” things based on its current “mood”.  As discussed in this Smithsonian article, it was set up for an exhibit where the program would decide its current mood based on a random newspaper article that it read, and then it would paint a portrait of the person sitting in front of the laptop it was running on in the style of that mood.  One thing that I thought was really cool was that the software would apparently sometimes be put in too “bad” of a mood by the article it read to even want to paint, saying things like, “I was in a particularly negative mood, because I was reading an article entitled: ‘Aftershocks rock Italy earthquake zone‘ in the world section of the Guardian newspaper, which was really sad, because it spoke of ‘terrified residents.’ So, I decided not to paint a portrait”.  When it was able to create paintings, however, it produced some pretty impressive results (as shown in the article).

While the technology has a long way to go, and there’s also probably the debate of whether or not the AI is responsible for the “art” created or the human that created it is, the current artistically-inclined artificial intelligences are pretty impressive and produce some pretty fascinating images.  I’m interested in seeing how this sort of technology will develop, and even more so, if it can ever go on to produce something beyond what people have been able to create thus far.  Who knows, maybe a truly sentient artificial intelligence of some sort would process things so differently than humans that it would be able to produce some really amazing, incomprehensible stuff.  Of course, this is just wild speculation and fantasizing, but it’s always fun to think about all of the crazy possibilities that artificial intelligence could unlock. 

Who decides what privacy is?

More than a year ago, in a decision that shocked many American Internet companies, Europe’s court ruled that search engines were required to comply with an unusual right: the “right to be forgotten.” The court found that certain users have the right to ask search engines like Google to remove results for queries that include the person's name. To qualify, the results shown would need to be inadequate, irrelevant, no longer relevant, or excessive. Google has adhered the ruling, a surprise decision that stirred debates about the balance between privacy and free speech, while fighting it in the courts. 

In its updated report last Wednesday, Google said it has evaluated more than 1.2 million Web pages on case-by-case basis and removed 42% of them from its search results. It also included a list of the 10 domains most affected by link removals, most of them being social networking sites. 

The disclosure highlighted an ironic aspect of the ruling: that search engines are the intermediaries of the removal requests. In other words, it is up to Google to evaluate the ethics of a request and decide on a course of action. Although Google didn’t explicitly explain why it removes some links and keeps others, it did provide clues as to what it takes into account when making the decision. Whether someone is a public or private figure, whether it considers a crime to be minor, and whether incidents in question took place during a person’s private or professional life. For example, in one case, Google denied a prominent businessman’s request to remove articles about his lawsuit against a newspaper. In another case, it removed a link about what it called a teacher’s minor conviction years ago.

In its report, Google proudly stated that it considers the rights of the individual as well as public interest in the content. Even though the government forced search engines like Google to comply with the law, it is the company’s view of right and wrong that ultimately controls the law. With this in mind, I think this is an acceptable compromise between regulators and private entities. Private companies can now add to their list of proprietary services with purely synthetic but equally as proprietary ideals. I don’t think that most people who chalk the decision up as a win for privacy advocates realize that they don’t have as much power as they think. Of course, Google’s compliance is a blow to free speech but now there’s a strange limbo where someone can get away with things on one domain but not on another. Is it really privacy when different entities can change the meaning of the word? 

Assuming for a moment that all search engines adhered to the same principles of privacy, the law still doesn’t take into account domains registered in other countries but still accessible in the EU. The Internet can never truly forget and any ideas of an identity eraser should be left in the spy movies they come from. Unfortunately, many people don’t get a second chance because of this grim truth. If anything, instead of trying to eliminate the exposure, people should spend more time trying to limit it. Being more conscious of your actions on the internet can greatly reduce the risk of “being remembered” in the real world.

The Future of Genetic Engineering

With the development of “selfish” genes by the University of California, Irvine, genetic engineering has become significantly more ethically complex. “Selfish” genes propagate through generations, meaning that any change made in an ancestor will show also in the descendents. This is different from conventional genetic engineering, where the genetic changes in an individual would only continue based on normal genetic distribution. This advancement presents several new ethical issues, not only in the genetic engineering of wildlife, but also with that of human genetic engineering.

The most immediate issue with the inclusion of “selfish” genetic engineering in wildlife is the potential problem of maintaining the propagation of accidental or unintended changes to a species’ genome. For example, the inclusion of anti-malaria genes into the mosquito population in Africa is one of the most prospective possible applications. This change to the mosquitos’ genome would potentially save millions of lives, and eradicate the risk of mosquito spread malaria forever. However, consider the possibility that this change also accidentally causes an increase in the spread of yellow-fever. How would this then be rectified? Ethan Bier, a fly biologist at the University of California, San Diego, proposes that for each “gene-drive”, a functionally opposite drive must be developed. This way, in the event of a malfunctioning gene drive, the reversal can be spread just as quickly.

Another potential issue with the technology is the possibility of environmental attacks by terrorist groups or nations. A sufficiently thought out gene-drive could wipe out entire biomes. For example, a change in vegetation that causes complication up the food chain, or one that eradicates a major food crop. While currently development of such a gene-drive may be impossible, or cost millions of dollars, presumably the development cost will decrease significantly as the technology develops, putting it in range of large terrorist groups or rogue states. And how would these attacks be considered in wars between nations? Would it be classified as a biological attack, or its own genre? Would international law have to change to reflect this?

The possible implications in human genetic engineering must also be considered. While a gene-drive that eliminates major human diseases such as cancer or diabetes sounds extremely promising, it is important to understand that not all people may want to incorporate these changes into their genome. An “unselfish” genetic change would allow an unmodified parent and a modified parent to avoid the modifications in their offspring. However, a “selfish” genetic change would mean that the genetic changes would continue in their children. As a result, humanity would need to split into two distinct groups: those who are free of genetic changes, and those who are not. The only possibility to merge the two groups would be to use genetic engineering to undue those very changes.

While gene-drives represent a monumental advancement in genetic engineering, the ethical dilemmas that arise are just as significant. With great power comes great responsibility.

Stop Making Me Scroll!

When making a website, developers must keep in mind the sheer variety of options and configurations that users will view the site through. Users may be on a computer, phone, tablet, game console, or something else not listed. From there, display space varies, with newer phones and tablets showing more on screen than older versions, dedicated computer users having bigger, better monitors for a larger workspace, and console users coping with a wider distance between user and screen. Even then, web browsers will differ, with users of different devices opting to use their preferred browser (or not being given a choice). As a result, websites must be able to cope with all these variations, lest a poor design drive away users and, potentially, customers.

To do this, I have noticed several tricks observed though my many hours of navigating the internet in effort to stave off ennui. First is to use many resizable pictures, they can always be repositioned on screen size and will appear to annoy users of all devices. Second is to never put any useful information where visitors can easily find it. You will want to put many vague sentences in-between the giant pictures mentioned previously. Third, space out all the text as far as it can go, you will want both the line spacing and kerning to be wider than an obese whale. Fourth, make it so that this one design is standard to all devices. This way, you can save effort overall. Fifth, make liberal use of hover over animations and large loading icons in general. Sixth, put everything on one page, with any menu clicks being used to automatically scroll the page down to the relevant section. As a bonus, make it so I have to make an account and log in to view anything that is not a box telling me to log in or make an account, even if I’m trying to find out what your service is.

In case you have yet to notice from my tone of writing so far, web developers, please stop doing this. I should not have to resort to a combination of Google and Wikipedia to find things from your site that I need. Annoying your users more than that burst pipe last week will not endear me to your services. Designing everything this way does not help, even on mobile, which it was undoubtedly made for in the first place. Large photos with spaced out text looks good a first glance, sure, but it quickly becomes obnoxious to read and follow. Scrolling to find anything works okay on mobile, until I accidently swipe and watch as I lose my place. On desktop all this scrolling achieves is wearing out my mouse wheel. If you went for the extra credit and decided to force accounts, it’s even worse, as I need an account to find out about your site, but won’t make an account until I know what it does (really, I could be signing up for cat facts, for all I know). I get that this happens to be the current trend in web design, and that it works well across devices, but at the very least, stop making me constantly scroll.

Computer Business

Through the years technology has been increasing with a high percentage meanwhile other business maintain the regular tendency. It is true that having an education, a degree in a good school and a good job in a corporation is a secure way to have a stable life which secures a certain amount of money for all your life but what about thinking of having a your own business in technology. Recently while i was having a lunch with my friend in a restaurant, who is pursuing a Computer Engineering major, we have the idea of putting our business in computer hardware and software. Customizing computer hardware by adding specific features depending the customer's preference that could be adding front and rear camera, more memory, hard drive or solid state drive with different capacity with a high quality. Adding a longer battery life than regular laptops with enough time to do customers regular task without looking to charge again to recharge the battery. 

Customizing computer software by adding software packages that customer usually needs, having a regular upgrade for each customer, teach how to use high tech program which usually is a headache for people who don't have tech skills but they are eager to learn in their own pace. Provide a high quality parts and service. Add another features like maximize what certain apps offer them since some of them use the basic of each app, how to navigate the web and even technology advise by phone for maybe a membership.

This idea just came as a brainstorming that we wish we could make it real soon. First we need to study how much will be the required investment, look for a place where will be located and where the market will be suitable in short and long term. Analyze who will be our primary and secondary stakeholder, satisfy stakeholder's needs and retain and gain new customers. Make a project plan to do not fail in the process. Hopefully this project with perseverance and good analysis of the market will work.

Have Cell Phones Ruined the Holidays?

                Have cell phones ruined the holidays? I would say yes for those from the ages of 6-18. When I was with in those ages, entertainment at holidays was all about each other. TV was limited to football and if that did not hold your attention you were forced to seek alternatives. What at first seemed like a devastatingly boring couple of hours always turned quickly around with the help of my siblings and cousins. I got to play with my cousins for the first time in a couple of months. We would build forts, have elaborate adventures and wreak havoc on the adults that let us ban together. Holidays were about spending time with distant family that we did not get the opportunity to see often.

                Even as I grew up and “playing” with my cousins began to seem too juvenile for me, I began to transition to talking to the older generation and spending more time with my aunts and uncles. I would butt into conversations and learn more about the generation that came before me.  As time moved on I learned to have real contributions and hold interesting conversation with the adults.

                The way that I grew up at holidays is far from what I see my younger cousins do now. I watch my younger cousins all staring at their electronic devices, cell phones and ipads. There is no imagination, no creativity, just blank stares and silent kids. The fun that I used to have is nowhere to be seen.  I cannot say that the adults are not also guilty of abusing their own use of electronic devices, but I can say that it is not making the same impact. The games and fun we had is being replaced with these devices. Instead of being forced to find a way out of boredom, they turn to the instant gratification of their phones.

                This is taking away the incentive to get closer to their cousins. And as they grow they get more and more attached to their screens and avoid any personal contact with their family. This removes the transition from playing to adult conversation, and leaves the kids antisocial. They see no need to talk to their family because they have their phones to occupy their time.

                This passed Thanksgiving, my sister noticed this trend, and decided to collect phones. She walked around the living room and got a hefty stack of cellphones that she put into the other room. It did have a positive affect for a short while. It was amusing for all involved and for about a half an hour most followed the rules and sat around with each other. The adults were actually the first to crack and ask for phones back to take and post pictures, but what I really noticed was that the kids still did not do anything with that time. No game was made, or activity concocted, they just sat around and waited staring at the football game that clearly held very little interest for them. The instinct to entertain themselves has been lost. I fear to see how this will develop as time goes on. It may very well be that holidays as I knew them, are over.

Surveillance Robots

Nowadays there are many companies that gather personal information of millions of American citizens through Internet connected devices. These companies, knows as data brokers, sell this information to other firms, which use the data to specifically assign advertisements based on someone’s profile. For example, on your Facebook profile says you are pregnant. This information might be sold to Target, which will send you pregnancy and baby products’ coupons by e-mail or mail. Data brokers usually gather this information through phones and computers. However, Amazon has a new frightening invention that goes deeper than online information. It hears us.

The device is called Echo. It is a cylinder about the size of two coke cans and responds to the name of “Alexa”. It streams music or radio, supply sports scores and traffic conditions, buy products online, and answer questions all by the tone of your voice. So far it seems like it’s the device you always wanted to have at your house and make your life easier. This is probably what Amazon wants you to think. However, there is much more to Echo, and it is not pretty.

In addition to all Echo’s great features, it also stores all your interactivity with the robot. The songs you have played, the questions you have asked, the things you have bought are all stored in the device and sent to your phone. It is pretty cool to have all these activities stored on your phone, but the reality is that they go much further than your phone. Your personal data is uploaded to Amazon’s servers and used to manipulate you into buying more products from Amazon and possibly from companies Amazon sold your information to.

Rory Carroll states in his article “Goodbye privacy, hello 'Alexa'” his experience with the robot. According to him, much remains unclear. “Alexa streams audio ‘a fraction of a second’ before the ‘wake word’ (“Alexa”) and continues until the request has been processed, according to Amazon. So fragments of intimate conversations may be captured.” Rory Carroll continues, saying that a few days after his wife and him discussed babies, his Kindle, another Amazon device, showed an advertisement for Seventh Generation diapers, while no online research had been made on baby products. Data brokers seem to have reached a new level of surveillance. They have broken the gates of the online world and reached us in our very homes.

Consumers should be aware of not only the specifics and features of a new device, but also the possibility of surveillance. Unfortunately there are no laws available yet against this kind of surveillance. In addition, companies are smart enough to not advertise it.

Therefore, consumers must be with their eyes opened to any connection they might see between a new technology and their personal information. It is now clear that companies are investing money in order to improve surveillance and make it even more personal. Unless you want a gossiper roommate, we should not allow our homes to be filled with actuating surveillance robots.

A (Partially) Fictional Story About a Dead Phone

If anyone is reading this, send help.  I took a train trying to get to Montclair State University but unbeknownst to me the train stops 5 stops short of the campus on the weekends so I had to download the Uber app using 3G Internet and it left my iPhone 4 (yes 4 not 4s) at 5% battery, I forgot my charger, and I'm afraid it's going to die before I get to campus.  I know it's a piece of archaic technology and most people probably don't even remember what the charger for the iPhone 4 looks like (it's the same charger that works with your iPod Video), but if you're reading this, I need your help.  If my phone dies I'm sure I'm gonna miss the email about our grades on the stats quiz and I was expecting a call from my dad later and you know how he gets when I don't answer his calls. so please if you can meet me-

Okay sorry about that, my phone died but it's okay because I found a charging station outside a classroom on the Montclair campus so this should keep me going for a while. My phone's already at 7% and climbing so I should be fine for the rest of the night... Shit all my friends are waiting for me so we can leave to go out to dinner, uhhh we'll be at Chevy's Fresh Mex on NJ route 3 if anyone reads this and has an iPhone 4 charge I can borrow! Crap it's about to-

Wow what a night.  It's Sunday afternoon now and i just made it back to my room in Hoboken but it wasn't easy let me tell you.  First off my phone died before I could instagram or snapchat a single picture of me and my friends at dinner, and when a song I liked came on the radio but I couldn't remember the artist I had to ask my friends to use shazam for me.  I couldn't even set an alarm for the morning so I'm amazed I woke up on time.  Worst of all the train ride was a nightmare because I couldn't listen to music and this family had 4 small children who wouldn't stop running around screaming and giggling trying to hit each-others butts.  The dad seemed completely oblivious to his obnoxious children.  When I finally made it to the Hoboken station I realized I was incredibly hungry but the water main burst in closed most of my favorite restaurants so I had to walk all the way to 10th street to find out that Asia was closed and back tracked to Vito's.  I really wish somebody would have read my post and helped out but it's fine now I'm plugged in and I won't make the mistake of forgetting my charger when I leave home any time soon...

Hey it's me again, does anybody live near NJIT or know somebody who goes here who might have an iPhone 4 charger?

IEEE Hack-a-home

Justin Tsang

HSS 371

Blog #7 – IEEE Hack-a-home

11/22/15

My Experience at Stevens Hack-a-home

            Over this weekend, Stevens IEEE hosted its first hack-a-home where teams of four Stevens undergraduate students would modify home appliances to become smart appliances. The team I was a part of was given a coffee maker, a CanaKit Raspberry Pi 2 starter kit, a two-channel relay module, and an Arduino UNO. My initial thoughts coming into this competition was mainly fear because I was entering an engineering competition as a computer scientist. I had minimal knowledge on circuits and experience with hardware programming, so I felt that I would make my team lag behind. The other teams who entered the hack-a-home consisted of engineers who knew what they were doing with years of hardware experience. It was intimidating seeing other teams already building circuit boards that were populated with a bunch of intertwined wires connected to sensors and LED’s. However, with the assistance of my team members as well as the vast resources on Python and the Twitter API, I was able to take up the responsibility of programming the entire software to allow the Raspberry Pi communicate with the buzzer as well as the relay module that controlled the electricity flow to the coffee maker. In the end, our design of the smart coffee maker allows the user to tweet to the coffee maker to request the appliance to make coffee at a certain time for a certain amount of cups. The raspberry pi sets an alarm for set time and 5 seconds before the designated time will set off the alarm for 5 seconds. After, the relay module allows electricity to flow through the coffee maker and make coffee. Then, a tweet is sent back to the user to notify that the coffee has finished brewing.

In my opinion, I would prefer working alongside engineers over programmers. I have participated in past software development projects with other Stevens computer science students, but all of my experiences have failed. Every time I have worked with programmers, they always wanted jump into the code without investing time into the design process. As a result, we always became de-synchronized where one guy would write code that only worked for his part of the project but not for everyone else’s. This ultimately led to hours spent afterwards editing the code so one part of the program would still function when augmented in the whole program. My partner would start programming without allowing me to catch up, so I would start coding my own program. I never felt like there was a feeling of teamwork when I worked with other programmers. However, my experience this weekend was completely different. Because my partners were all engineers, they know the importance of the design process before beginning the actual implementation of the design. When the competition officially began, we invested the first hour and a half on solely discussing and drawing out different design propositions, and when we finally decided on a design, we discussed the different components needed to make the idea work. I liked this more because there were fewer faults later down the implementation process. When I was lost in how the pin on the Raspberry Pi would send logical bits to the relay module to allow voltage to flow, my engineering friends would always stop and prioritize the team over the work. My friends care more that everyone was the same level and no one was confused about any components of the project. As a result, the team becomes more efficient because no one person will lag behind the others and slow down the design process. I like this more because there is more communication in the team. With programmers, there is no communication because everyone would start coding and wanting to solve the problem his, or her, own way.

Meaning in Entertainment

“Shallow, unaccredited noise...”

                - Some guy on the Internet

Last class, there was a fairly involved discussion about the 'value' of entertainment. Some people did not seem to understand the basic difference between art that challenges you in a deep and meaningful way and art that does not, or why listening to the former is preferable to the latter. So I thought I would attempt to explain.

I don't want to sound pretentious and elitist (not everything you need to listen to needs to be experimental art music), but people will think I am anyways so I might as well roll with it. And, in the spirit of being as obnoxiously pretentious as possible, I’m going to run my explanation through a comparison of two Death Grips songs. (Death Grips is widely considered one of the most pretentious and ``modern-art'' groups of the 2010's.  If you haven’t heard Meme Grips yet, be warned: their music is quite violent and, to be honest, doesn’t really appeal to most people.)

The first song I would like to discuss is a fairly celebrated track off the album Exmilitary, called “Culture Shock”. The song is an unashamed criticism of the modern addiction to information overload. The author rails against Hollywood and the media for producing intellectual garbage, as well as society for consuming it in disturbing and unnaturally large quantities. He warns his audience that the unrelenting bombardment of data jetsam destabilizes and weakens their minds, as well as opening them up to undesirable influences, both from their own vices and from third parties wishing to do them harm.

It’s an alright song. By the second or third listen, you might begin thinking to yourself that, yep, I get it already. That’s because the song, while it brings up some interesting ideas about the author’s views of society, is pretty straightforward. You, as a listener, are told exactly what the author is thinking, and very little about how or why, to boot. The gubment is bad, mmkay? Down with the man!

The second of the two is a significantly less appreciated song, the opening track to the group’s album No Love Deep Web, titled “Come up and get me”. The entire album is a musical personification of crippling paranoia, drug use, and physical and mental control, as well as a disturbing warning as to the consequences of abuse of or overexposure to these sins. “Come up and get me” really gets the ball rolling with this.

What makes “Come up and get me” an interesting song, lyrically, is the layers of abstraction. Powerfully described is this notion of a man cracked out and alone in an abandoned building on the eight floor, with a police task force blocking off his exit. However, MC Ride takes this terrifying vision, which he has built in only a few verses, and starts tearing it down. His description of his assailants as ‘Nazis’ and ‘the world’ suggest that he may actually be speaking about a society which he feels is authoritative and oppressive. His admittance that he cannot really determine the identities of his demons due to his own ‘fragmented mind’ suggest that they may not even be there at all, that he himself is the enemy. In the end, the speaker decides that no matter what, conflict and its potential consequences are preferable to endless paranoia and dread, and screams at his demons to ‘come up and get him’, whoever they may be.

The lyrics are intentionally vague. This allows the artist to make a decisive, concrete statement (COME UP AND GET ME wuhbwuhbwuhb) but at the same time, forces the viewer to make a decisive, concrete statement about what he believes by deciding what the speaker is actually talking about. Is the speaker a victim or his own enemy? Your answer to that question is a direct reflection of your opinions on the topics he is discussing. Ultimately, there is no right answer, and that’s the point – all that’s left is the assertion that you shouldn’t take whatever is assailing you lying down. Whatever the meaning behind the song, its complexity certainly makes it more valuable than the one-dimensional counterpart.

Death Grips is very much music reliant on its shock value, which is in itself limiting in some ways. These songs are absolutely not the deepest, most engaging pieces of music you will ever hear. However, it is precisely because neither of these tracks are untouchable masterpieces that it’s easy to see the clear difference between them. One, a musical exploration of otherwise unrelated themes by attempting to construct a conflict around them. It is interactive (the listener decides what to think, ultimately) but also clearly directed (as in, the artist has intent behind writing and performing the song, and wants to send a message). The other is just a very angry rapper telling it like he thinks it is. If you understand the difference between these two songs, you will understand why Professor Vinsel thinks Star Wars sucks.