Presentation and Web 2.0 Project

It was easier said than done. The Presentation project seemed easy enough and fun. When it came time to choose a subject, is when reality set in and I realized this was not going to be a cake-walk.

Preparing the ideas and creating the storyboard was the second obstacle I had to overcome as I have seen these for movies and such, but never paid any attention to them and were turned off by them so for me to face that alone was pretty difficult, luckily there were plenty of resources to gather information about creating a storyboard and I was able to put one together. After the storyboard I had to get down and dirty and start looking for images and other information that I wanted to use in my presentation.

Like I said this project seemed fun and easy from the beginning. It was one of those "Don't judge the book by it's cover moments." I mean, I did have fun creating the presentation, I just wish I had better hardware like a better mic and better software like garageband or something to easily create background music or something. Overall, with what I had to work with, I feel I did a good job, not great, but good.

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I feel that my presentation did flow well and I answered questions to how I would make the changes that I brought up. After watching my presentation a few times, I now feel that my introduction could have been more interesting, something to intrigue the audience or capture their attention. I didn't have any real data to validate any claims, it just seemed more common sense type of stuff that we should do to make these changes at my employer. Also one fellow classmate mentioned that one of my slides was hard to read and after reviewing it, I have to agree somewhat, it was a somewhat cluttered slide, kind of on the edge of being too cluttered I think. But I didn't want to make any changes because any changes to the slide would have made it feel more cluttered and expanding the information into two slides would have been too much. Also I feel that I did flow very well with the presentation, as I rehearsed it many times and had recorded the slide lengths in order to focus on narrating it at the appropriate time.

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Week 7 Clear: Software in Flux

This week's material was so jam packed full of good stuff it is hard to contain and will probably be hard to retain! We began with Open Source Software (OSS) and learned about the many types, the benefits, and the essentials. It appears that there are so many benefits to using OSS such as: great quality, high reliability, great flexibility, low associated costs, and an end to predatory vendor lock in. Also the access to the source code gives it a great advantage over commercial software as there is the ability to fix bugs yourself, modify behavior of the program, and add features.

Here is a brief history of Open Source Software!

Image Created by: (Mark Fidelman)  http://www.flickr.com/photos/fidelman/4523518468/

The Economics of Open Source Software
Learning how companies can afford to distribute this type of software was very interesting. I have used open source software applications in the past where they were given to me for free. Though most of the applications I got my hands on were of lower quality and I have not really kept using. But they were free, I now know why, as the companies either take donations (smaller companies that have this type of software for use) or they charge for support, which can get very pricey.

The Cloud
Another topic that was pretty clear to me was somewhat new to me, at least most of it was. When the new iPhone 4s came out, it was all about the "Cloud" and I was like what is this cloud stuff they are talking about? Is this something new? But after reading this material and watching the lectures I just found out it was basically the Internet, in a way. Personal cloud based computing, such as, Gmail, YouTube, and Spider Oak are just a few examples of this type of computing. So many of the services we currently use are cloud based and most of us don't really know it, or pay attention to it. Enterprise cloud based computing now, is a little different, there are monthly subscriptions, they are highly scalable, and you can write your own.

Cloud computing options seem infinite and are the way of the future, as it frees up disk space on your physical machines and is ever evolving. It also frees up IT staff and costs to focus your resources.

Virtualization
I can't lie...this week wasn't all clear! When it came to virtualization, it was like I got hit in the head and was left dazed and confused. It actually started out very confusing, but as I went on in the lectures and reading, it started to become more clear, though I know I am not ready to jump in to try doing this on any of machines at this time and probably not in the near future either.

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Week 6: Clear - Understanding Software

This week I watched lectures and did some reading on Understanding Software. Most of the information was clear and simple, while some of it seemed pretty intense and complicated. Learning and understanding the types of software was pretty easy, I seem to have a better understanding on the differences between System Software and Application Software. System Software, such as, Windows 7 and McAfee Antivirus are needed for the smooth functioning of a computer and it's peripheral devices. Application Software, such as, Microsoft Word and Quickbooks, help accomplish a specific purpose.

Probably the most interesting thing that I learned this week was about Version Numbers of software.
Version Numbers consist of :  Major # . Minor # . revision # . build #
So a version of an application may look like this.
Version: 1.6.4356.41199
This is actually the version of the Bing application that is running on my Blackberry.
Version 1 means that this is the first actual version created for my phone, then the 6 is the minor version number which means it has had 6 minor upgrades to fix bugs and to improve performance, the 4356 is basically how many times it has been tweaked to fix bugs, and the 41199 is how many times the developers have gone in just to check to make sure everything is still ok and secure.

This information was very important to me because when I see a new version of something I have the tenancy to want to upgrade as soon as it is released, but now knowing that the new versions could be full of bugs and such helped me to understand that I should probably wait a while to make sure everything, or most everything, is worked out before jumping in to something especially when there is a large investment involved.

The muddiest part of this week's lesson was about Writing Software, this seems so confusing, that I am turned off by it even though I am very interested in learning more about it, it just seems like too much to grasp! Hopefully it isn't, because I know I am going to have to learn more about it as the semester goes on!

Wish me luck!!

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Week 5: Muddy With A Chance of Clear-Presentations

Well I titled this week's blog: Muddy With A Chance of Clear-Presentations.
This week's information was about presentations, some of it showed what to do and some of it was about what NOT to do. I have been doing PowerPoint presentations for years now. Many of them were just for fun and some were for school or work. I know now that many of my presentations would be banned, as they broke probably every copyright rule and had so many animations and such, it would leave you dizzy. In time, I did begin to scale my presentations back but after this week's lesson I know it will take a lot of constraint to try to use what I learned in my next presentation.
Which will not be like this:

PowerPoint Created by: Christopher Ondrako, 2012

This little example I just mad for this blog, as I don't have any real examples on this computer. But still many can get the point. And I just learned how to embed the presentation into my blog using Windows Live-SkyDrive. Now back on point, for the most part the information seemed kind of common sense, I saw some crazy examples of what not to do in PowerPoint and other things that opened my eyes to things that I need to fix myself. Such as the animations and such. I too was one of those who thought animation really gets the attention of the viewer.When all it really is, is a distraction.

One thing that I learned, but is still muddy, is the use of infographics. I haven't really seen these types of graphs before this class and think they are very intriguing, though kind of confusing and too cluttered much of the time.

Image Created by: (Latitude Research)  http://www.flickr.com/people/37527143@N03/

Basically, what I took from this week's lesson is, "Less is More." I mean of course the slides shouldn't be blank, but still they shouldn't be cluttered and fill with non-essential items that don't pertain to the presentation. Important "Do's" are to Format and Style the presentation to make it appealing. Use a clear and professional font type, and use colors and themes that gel very nicely with the message being projected from the presentation.

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Week 4: Clear Strategy and Technology

Week 4:
This week's lesson included a lot of information, such as: Strategy & Technology, The Value Chain, and Porter's Five Forces.
Much of the information I read about this week was also linked to my previous Marketing class, I love it when material seems to flow and much of the terminology is already known to me. It also gives me a sense of pleasure that everything I take from each class is connected together and isn't alien to me.
It was clear to me that when dealing with strategy and technology, you must stay up with the times, but you can't rely solely on the technology to do all of the work for you as technology can be easily imitated and rarely offers sustainable advantage. In the business world one must also be innovative and be able to sense timing. I also had a clear understanding that competition is a good thing, as it leads to improvements in the industry such as stronger products and more benefits for the consumer. It was interesting to learn that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates once worked together!

"Image created by (Pedro Cano).
http://www.flickr.com/people/gspidermac/"

"Image created by (PC Site).
http://www.flickr.com/people/pcsiteuk/"

I also learned about "Switching Costs & Data" and that the costs a consumer incurs when moving from one product to another can involve actual money spent as well as investments in time and possible data loss.
Some sources of switching costs are:

"Image created by (NobMouse)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nobmouse/4052848608/"

• Learning Costs
• Information & Data
• Financial Commitment                  
• Contractual Commitment
• Search Costs
• Loyalty Programs

One particular piece of information that I read about and watched a video on that I really enjoyed was about
Porter's Five Forces. This bit of information helped me understand the framework considering the interplay between:

1. The intensity of rivalry among existing competitors.
2. The threat of new entrants.
3. The threat of substitute goods or services.
4. The bargaining power of buyers.
5. The bargaining power of suppliers.

It was amazing to learn that Michael Porter had written this framework 30 years ago, and is still successful today.

All in all this was a good week of information, I just hope it all sticks with me, not only for my exam, but also as I grow and work in my career.

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Week 3: Clear-Understanding Hardware

Week 3 now down 00001011 more to go (binary), still trying to get it. I did find a nice website that has an application that translates binary, just click the link.

Now on to this weeks material:
This week we watched lectures and read material on Networking concepts. Though a lot of the material was above what I already knew, I did find most of it very familiar and NOT above what I am capable to understand. I already had the basics of home networks, as I have a desktop, 2 laptops, a printer, and my TV all on my Home Network. But the technical parts like making sure I have the proper wireless security and types of cabling was new to me. My next step for my home network will be a backup system as was discussed in this week's material. I plan on using a spare hard drive and connecting it to my wireless router to backup any important information I may keep on my computers, such as previous tax returns, photos, and other important documents.

"Image created by (Will Bostwick). http://www.flickr.com/photos/thestanding/3115399121/"



My home network is not quite that intricate, but it does seem to keep growing into something that resembles this one in the photo.

Another bit of interesting facts that I learned about were the different WiFi types (802.11). I learned that I must know what type of wireless Network Interface Card my devices have to make sure that they are compatible with my router which is an 802.11g. (I really wanted to move up to an "N", but have not had a real reason yet as my wireless devices seem to operate very nice as they are, even streaming Netflix on my Sony Google Television.

Needless to say, today I came across a problem with my cable modem, it stopped working!! I don't know why it stopped, but I was able to go online in the morning, then my internet access was disconnected. I went round and round going through the steps of trying to get it going again. I called Cox cable to have them refresh the signal, I tried using a different cable outlet and nothing!! They offered to set me up with an appointment to have a technician come out, but I politely declined thinking, why would I pay $60 for a technician to come out to tell me my modem isn't working anymore? So I took my chances and went to BestBuy to purchase a new modem. I brought it home, called my Internet Provider and gave them the MAC address, plugged it in and boom, off to the races I went! The only thing that puzzled me a bit and still has me puzzled is that I never had to go through the setup process with the CD that was included with the drivers and such. But still, I have my internet back!!

Well looking forward to next week! Stay tuned!

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Avatar Creating

Well, finally getting around to posting about my Avatar experience!!
I had a good time creating my Avatar, I just had to find the right website to use. Some of the websites had bad reviews and were suspicious of having spyware, but decided to go with IMVU. IMVU is a virtual chatroom where you create your Avatar and can go through different rooms and places.

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It was a fun experience to build my Avatar once I got started. I used IMVU because of what all it offered. Some of the other Avatar sites either didn't work or offered boring Avatars. This one used more lifelike creations and more options, even though there were some hoops to go through, such as linking my account with Facebook and going through the tutorial. I loved the ability to personalize my Avatar by purchasing (through credits) different clothing options and other accessories.

Here are a few shots of my Avatar:



"Images created by Christopher Ondrako, 2012. Permission granted to reuse with attribution."

I found myself trying to interact with others in the different chatrooms, but found the interface very slow and difficult to maneuver. But nonetheless, I love my Avatar, and look forward to switching it up at times so stay close and watch out for more!