Improving Your Wi-Fi Signal with Aluminum Foil

Dartmouth University researchers have proven aluminum foil can improve wireless strength and security. The research started with the idea to place an aluminum can around a wireless router’s antenna to direct the Wi-Fi beam to a specific location. They discovered the aluminum can prototype to be a slight improvement over standard antennas. Expanding the concept, they bent several styles of aluminum foil into directional antennas, and after several iterations, they were able to develop specific shapes that greatly improved wireless reception to their targeted areas.

The researchers then took the idea one step further and created a program called WiPrint. WiPrint is a program that works in conjunction with a 3D printer to create customized antenna apparatus unique to each individual’s needs. This device is then wrapped in aluminum foil to redirect the router’s Wi-Fi signals to the targeted areas. The Wi-Fi signal is funneled into a beam which greatly improves its strength. The custom antenna also helps to improve the Wi-Fi security by not sending the signal to unwanted areas. With standard omnidirectional antennas, the signal is sent in every direction this makes it easier for packet snooping and hacking. The program has not been yet released, but tests have shown the 3D printed antennas it creates can outperform even the most expensive antennas.

I remember trying this with my old routers years ago. Has anyone tried to use something like this to improve your Wi-Fi signal? If so, what were your results?

TechCrunch: Researchers discover aluminum foil actually does improve your wireless speed

Net Neutrality

Over this Thanksgiving holiday, the FCC announced it will have a meeting to approve its plan repealing Net Neutrality. For those who don’t know exactly what it is, Net Neutrality, originally passed in 2015, is a set of rules that prohibit ISPs from prioritizing customer access to certain websites. For instance, without it, someone may have to pay more to access to certain websites that offer video streaming, social media, etc. such as Netflix or Facebook. FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, has stated that “the FCC would simply require Internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that’s best for them”. In regards to the current Net Neutrality regulation, Pai also stated, “it’s depressed investment in building and expanding broadband networks and deterred innovation”.

The argument for the repeal is that ISPs can’t offer new business models or services to customers. The argument against it is limiting consumer choice and access, both to residential and business customers. Some even view it from a business perspective saying it “would hurt innovation”. Since the announcement the FCC has made, various companies have urged the public to voice their opinion about the plan. Over “20 million” comments to the agency have been made in opposition of the change, and companies on both sides will lobby on December 14th this year.

Regardless of political climate, political biases, etc., do you have any thoughts regarding this?

What about from a business perspective?

Tech Briefing:Uber Paid Hackers to Delete Stolen Data on 57 Million People

This article focuses on a latest news about Uber user information security. More than 57 million Uber user's information, including their names, addresses, phone numbers, even credit card numbers are stolen by hackers.

This news is critical for MIS students to think about in their future career. One of the biggest MIS questions to concern, security issue. Information Assurance is extremely important in the digital age. Just a quick search on the Internet will allow you to discover a tremendous amount of information about specific people, places, projects, or just about any topic you could conceive. The U.S. Government started their IA program to define Information Security as a priority. Agencies of the U.S. Government who handle sensitive information must follow strict guidelines in order to ensure this information remains secure. The risk of general data loss or the risk of losing sensitive information is far too great to not have plans in place to help mitigate the risks. While the Government has adopted this philosophy, corporations and other organizations are beginning to see the wisdom in adopting Information Assurance programs. According to the 2014 Verizon Wireless Data Breach Information Report there were 1,367 confirmed data breaches and over 63,000 security incidents in 2013 alone.

Questions:
1. During the incident, what does Uber lose? (i.e:credibility, reliability from customer,etc)
2. How can IT specialist improve information assurance?
3.What Uber can do to fix the problem?

Source:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-21/uber-concealed-cyberattack-that-exposed-57-million-people-s-data

Drones, yes or no

Drones have gained their population these years. As more and more people start to buy drones, either for themselves or for their friends, more issues are raised with it. Privacy in cyberspace is one of the biggest concerns. As suggested by an article from pbs.org, "With drones flying overhead, apps tracking our every move, and more personal data flowing into cyberspace every second, there is widespread concern about sensitive data and images ending up in the wrong hands."

In response to this concern, many states have passed laws against flying drones "over or near any house, occupied vehicle or other place where one may reasonably expect to be safe from uninvited intrusion or surveillance." Such actions are considered as "a form of harassment that could be considered stalking."

On the other side, flying drones, suggested by another article from pbs.org do benefit humanitarian efforts. For example, "drones have been utilized to survey disaster zones, capturing imagery to determine where assistance should be delivered in areas inaccessible by roads." There are a lot of similar situations where tasks that are impossible for human to complete can be done by drones.

Questions:
A. Have you ever flew a drone before?
B. What do you think is the biggest concern about flying drones?
C. If you are to do a cost-benefit analysis, what would be your conclusion?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/nation/how-drones-raised-privacy-concerns-across-cyberspace
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/world/drone-use-humanitarian-aid

Agile Project Management Software

One of the most talked about topics in our class thus far has been centered around Agile Methodologies and the way that they are transforming product, system, and project development. Based on the principles of incremental and iterative change, this methodology has grown in popularity across numerous industries and organizations. In recent developments, there are now software versions that help teams run on Agile, which are beneficial for new MIS grads and industry professionals to know about.

In the article, "Zoho Launches Agile Product Management Software", found on businesswire.com, Zoho, a cloud computing company, has created a agile project management software solution that can be utilized through its online cloud platform. Titled Zoho Sprints, the software combines basic agile principles and encourages teams to make iterative changes and release shippable products quickly. More specifically, "Zoho Sprints follows the scrum framework and combines backlogs, agile reports, collaboration tools, and customizable scrum boards, making it ideal for software developers and other teams that follow the agile methodology." The competitive advantage of this agile project management software over ones that are already on the market is that it is faster and simpler to use, taking the complexity out of product development for teams of all sizes. Some of the major features include:

• Backlog plan development - create user stories, document problems, substantiate to-do lists

• Scrum board task scheduling - update task statuses, track task progress, personalize team workflow

•  Analytical progress visualization - produce velocity charts and burn-down reports, identify team struggles and successes 

• Tools for collaboration - share team and individual progress, engage with team members no matter where their location, enhance team interaction with meeting reminders and feeds

• Timesheet hour logging - log billable and non-billable hours, approve time entries

Today, this agile project management software is priced using a monthly subscription model per user, which start at $20 for 20 users per month to include an unlimited amount of projects. Zoho Sprint and other types of software that integrate agile methodologies will continue to become more popular and prevalent with the rise of agile development methodologies.

Questions

1. Given the information that we have received about Agile Methodologies in class, do you think this software would be beneficial to teams running on this type of development?
2. Have you ever used software that is centered around agile methodologies?
3. If you've had work or internship experience working in Agile, do you think this type of software would be useful?


Link to article: "Zoho Launches Agile Project Management Software"

Android is always tracking you

In a recent investigation done by Quartz, it was found that Android devices are always sending location data to Google—even when users have disabled this feature in their settings. Location data is being sent even after the phone has been reset to factory settings or if the phone has no SIM card. The location data is being sent either through cellular data or a wi-fi connection. If people want to continue using their Android devices, there is no way for them to turn off this location tracking.

The Google spokesperson that Quartz contacted noted that this tracking has been occurring for 11 months and that it is helping to manage the notifications and messages received by Androids. They also claimed that the data was never stored and planned to discontinue this practice of data tracking now that the issue has been brought to light. Google claimed it was testing out ways to better deliver messages to users in a faster manner.

While this may or may not be the real reason Google was tracking Android users, it is another instance of a company gathering sensitive data without informing the public. The exact location of someone can be pinpointed by utilizing multiple cell towers and triangulation. Therefore, this data is pretty sensitive and it seems like something Google should be asking people to opt in or out of.

Do you think it is okay for Google to be tracking the location of users without their permission?

Do you think tech companies today have lost touch on what data about users is sensitive or not?

How do you feel about the possibility that a company—be it Google, Facebook, Apple, Snapchat, etc—is always aware of your location?

YouTube to restrict 'disturbing' children's videos, if flagged

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41942306

YouTube to restrict 'disturbing' children's videos, if flagged

A current problem that technology is facing is the screening and blocking of age appropriate material. YouTube is currently working with parents and other avenues to decrease the amount of indecent footage that shows up in kid-age searches. Often when kids are searching for age appropriate items such as Disney Characters or Super Hero a list of videos will accumulate based on their interests. Sometimes what appears to be a decent video, is the opposite. The creators of these video are using childlike characters to exploit adult content including violence and sexual subjects. These characters are being “algorithmically generated to capitalize on popular trends”.
I find this article important and a serious issue which hits home for me personally. I recently started paying attention to an animated video my four-year-old was watching with some of his favorite characters from Paw Patrol and Spider man. The content that these characters were discussing were extremely inappropriate. When I further investigated this issue on the web and with other parents they told me that they have a YouTube Kids app which I was unfamiliar with. I downloaded this app and it seems to be somewhat better.
Although after reading this article I am still uncertain of the app as YouTube admits how hard it has become to sensor all the videos that come through. This article states that YouTube currently addresses videos that have been flagged and will no longer allow these users to earn advertising money incentives that they previously had earned.
Also due to the fact that in many cases videos are not reported the problem is bigger than most think. It is said that ‘human oversight is simply impossible’ leading to the case that issue will not and may not be fixed anytime soon. 








QUESTIONS:
1. What can ‘YouTubers’ do to help this problem?
2. What other apps do you know have similar issues that have been resolved?

The Blockchain Explained

Blockchain technology was originally created by a person or group of people under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto” to serve as the backbone of the Bitcoin network. According to IBM, the blockchain is “… a shared immutable ledger for recording the history of transactions” (2017).  The blockchain utilizes a decentralized network of nodes to maintain an open-source, shared database and protect it from tampering, revision, and deletion. 

But how does it work? For ease and familiarity, I will describe how the blockchain works within the context of Bitcoin. Let’s say you walk into a pizza shop and pay the merchant using Bitcoin from your digital wallet. This transaction is carried out using a private-public key signature and is then broadcasted to the network of nodes, along with other pieces of information such as the addresses of the two parties’ wallets and a time stamp. 

From here, the miners take this information, reduce it to a sixty-four character hash using the SHA-256 algorithm, and start to pack it into blocks. As more transactions take place, they are merged with the hash of the previous transaction until the block is ready to be “sealed-off”. At this point, no block has actually been added to the ledger. Rather, each node has created their own block of transactions and is competing to add it to the ledger. To add their block to the ledger, the nodes compete to solve an extremely difficult mathematical problem that creates a hash combining that of the new block and the hash of the previous block.

This process requires brute computational force, but once the correct hash is determined, the winning node “seals-off” the block and adds it to the blockchain. From here, the rest of the nodes on the network verify the legitimacy of the block and broadcast it to the network of wallet holders and the process starts all over again to “seal-off” the next block of transactions. Blocks are added to the Bitcoin blockchain at a rate of six per hour – one every ten minutes ­– and miners are rewarded 25 Bitcoin’s for successfully “sealing-off” a block.

The blockchain is considered such a disruptive technology because it eliminates the need for intermediaries such as lawyers and bankers and can revolutionize our entire economic system. Students at MIT have even created a way for companies to verify that new-hires have earned their diplomas using blockchain technology, rather than having to contact the registrar’s office. It’s unlikely, however, that we see widespread adoption of this technology anytime soon. Iansiti and Lakhani at the Harvard Business Review suggest that it may even take decades for “blockchain to seep into our economic and social infrastructure” (2017).

Link to IBM Article

Link to Harvard Business Review Article

Questions:

1.       What do you believe are the pro’s of blockchain technology?

2.       What do you believe are the con’s of blockchain technology?

3.       Do you have any personal experience using Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.? If so, can you elaborate on it to give the readers a better understanding?

Current Trends: Social Media Hiring

Currently as a senior in college and participating in the job hunt, I have increased interest in current job hiring practices. I’m curious how they are conducted differently around the world and across various job industries. I have curiosity in the different types of technological (or lack of technological) platforms used to hire business professionals.

In the past, before current technology was developed, all hiring needs were done in-person through flyers and in-person interviews. However, that has changed as the availability and implementation of different technological platforms have been adapted in various companies and job industries. Today, over 50% (especially millennials) of job seekers use social media as a platform to find jobs to apply for.

As stated in the article, “Facebook, LinkedIn, [and] Twitter [are] emerging as [the] most popular channels for job seekers today.” Personally, I have conducted my job search solely on LinkedIn. However, I am aware of other technological website platforms that are being used for job seeking such as Monster, Indeed, Glassdoor, and ZipRecruiter. For universities specifically, they tend to have a university-specific job posting website. The University of Arizona formerly used Wildcat Joblink but they have now switched to Handshake, which is used by many companies to recruit candidates for jobs. They streamline their candidate search really well by going mostly off of resumes when applying for jobs. It makes it easier on both the recruiter and the job candidate as it streamlines the job search by going mostly off of just the resume which can be submitted in just a couple minutes. From there, the recruiter may reach out to the job candidate if they wish to continue the interviewing/hiring process.

Questions:

1) Which websites have you used for your job search?

2) Do you prefer in-person or phone/video conferencing interviews?

3) What do you think of Wildcat Joblink vs. Handshake?

Article Link: http://www.financialexpress.com/jobs/social-media-emerging-as-most-popular-channels-for-job-seekers/910588/

Author: Anamika Sinha

Published on: October 31^st, 2017