Meet the Majors: Learn all about the CIS major and minor (04/17/08)

The second CIS presents I attended was all about the CIS major and minor programs at Bentley. I didn't know much about either of these programs but given how much I had learned in IT101x I was starting to possibly considering a potential minor in CIS or at least some interesting electives. But without further ado, here is The Word on CIS at Bentley. The speaker, Dr. Yates, began by polling the classroom for ideas about what one could do with a CIS education. Students responded saying that most CIS majors would be doing alot with business information databases, computer information systems, and software production mostly within major technology companies. It was then explained that not only would CIS majors be working in the listed areas, CIS majors currently work at and have the potential to work at places like KPMG, Liberty Mutual, PWC, Travelers insurance, and even other companies such as one located in Cambodia. In combination with salaries ranging from $52,500-$102,000, the CIS major was starting to look like quite a good option. I then learned about the different courses and programs that go along with the CIS track and found out that it is an 8 course major starting with CS 150, CS 180, and CS 240. The focus of the session then shifted to some Bentley post-grads who talked about some of their personal experiences in the workplace. Two brothers Michael and Paul Wakespack(sp?) talked for a bit about their work at ACI worldwide and a few current CIS majors told us about the kinds of internships and experiences they had had as well. I found this session to be one of the mot interesting because I was able to hear some personalized experiences about the professional life after Bentley and as an added bonus, there was pizza at the end. SO if you are at all interested in CIS at Bentley defintely check out the course guide and peep the hyperlink at the start of this post for more info.

Later

The Implications of RFID (04/08/2008)

First off, sorry to all you bloggers out there who have been looking for this sweet yet informative CIS blog post things have been really busy lately so I have just been sitting on this post for about a week.

Anyways....One of the CIS Presents I chose to go to was called "The Implications of RFID". Prior to attending this session, I only knew that RFID was some sort of technological system that had the abilities to make business operations alot more easy. I understood that through little scanners a company using RFID could track what customers were buying and adjust their inventory accordingly. However, by the end of this session I had a much better understanding of what RFID is. According to the presentation, RFID chips read and assess different data featured on ones personal belongings (credit cards, luggage, speedpass) using transponder processing systems that track a great deal of information related to the user. These systems then sort information based on either passive or active tags. RFID are automatic readers that can easily prcess specific data collection and make for smoother business operations as I mentioned before through its automated inventory systems and analysis capabilities. In addition to being used in business operations, RFID can also be used on credit cards, airline baggage, smart passports, heath care ID's, and pharmaceutical drug tracking. In the future, as more systems are able to integrate RFID it would be reasonable to assume that virtually anything could be tracked via RFID making life in general alot less hectic. But RFID is not perfect and physical limitations such as dead tags and poor read rates hinder RFID technology from functioning at the highest levels. In addtion, the Gen 2 devices needed [electronic product codes, object name services (verisign)] are not widely availible so the prices for integrating functioning systems would be fairly pricey at least until more people start using the RFID technology. Security is also a bit of a concern because a when a persons RFID goes through a scanner not only is the needed information accessed, but all of the other information (credit card, health info, passport info) is exposed.

In conclusion (yes I know you are NEVER supposed to say that but this is just a blog so I deem it OK) the presentation made it clear to me that RFID technology definately has the potential to be one of the "Next big things" in business as well as in any place were consumers can be found. I would not be suprised if all major publicly traded companies shifted to RFID systems within the next 3-8 years. Feel free to check out the legit rundown on RFID by watching this dank youtube video .

Oh and if you are wondering what that document is, its just my rough notes from the presentation

Later

Tasty Tasty

For this blogging assignment, we were supposed to be using Del.icio.us for its social bookmarking purposes. Delicious and other social bookamkring sites like it allow for users to keep track of we sites/pages that they like on their own Delicious account in a place that makes it easier for them to relocate. In order to organze their favorite websites, users have to TAG the websites with keywords that allow themselves as well as other users to understand what the website is about. Users on the site are then able to join networks and friend other users which allows them to look at even more favorited websites. I personally prefer the services of Stumpbleupon.com but either way, both sites are useful. When using just the standard capabilities of a web browser, a user can only add the favorites to a folder but with sites like delicious users can customize tags based on what the site is really about and since one can look at the favorites of other users then it is easier to find cool stuff that may have been otherwise unknown. That being said, check me out on the tasty tasty delicious (no homo). Later

Twitter: Stalking 2.0

Twitter is a service that allows users to send messages to each other using either their computer or their phone. Users are also able to update their personal profiles with a picture and a quick sentence about what he/she is doing at the moment. Twitter also enables users to follow and be followed by other users allowing them to see any of their updates or "tweets" as I like to call them. Programs such as Adobe AIR have downloadable Twitter clients that allow for users to have an update box on their desktop at all times. I didn't end up using twitter on my phone because I wouldn't have been able to pay for all of the texts. Since I was following people like Barack Obama, there were far too many updates going on. I also found it funny that a few of the conversations I was having on Twitter carried over to face to face conversations. One of my friends had some questions about web pages so I went up to his room to help him out. Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of Twitter. After a while it got annoying to see all of the updates people were making and since any user has the ability to follow someone, my updates were not as private as I would have liked. My advice, stick to texting on just hop on AIM. Later

Big Muzz and the Goonies

My Man Billy G

this is my dude straight from the mean farms of wisconson

Spring Cleanin

Did any results surprise you? Why or why not?
-The results didn’t so much surprise me because I do utilize the web quite a lot. Many of the sites I go to require some sort of password or ID for access so naturally a large amount of cookie files would be saved. In addition, some of the sites have pop-ups which would also take up a fair amount of space considering I haven’t cleaned this computer since I got it.

Which do you think is more dangerous to have on your PC, spyware or adware? Why?
-I have always been of the mindset that spyware is more dangerous than adware. While adware is quite annoying and almost infectious, spyware can access more hidden information and files on your computer. Anything that can access personal information without the user’s knowledge should be considered very dangerous and should be deleted immediately.

What are the most common ways for your computer to get adware and spyware?
-To my knowledge the main way of getting adware and spyware is through clicking pop-ups, spam email, and special interest websites.

Why do you think some software contains spyware or adware in the first place? Who has the potential to gain from it?
-I think some software includes spyware and adware as marketing strategy. The companies featured in these ads and programs can target internet users at an increasing rate due to the tendencies of spyware and adware. Companies hope that all of their ads will develop more product familiarity which should in turn lead to increased sales.