So, I’m trying my hand at something new – I am trying to make money using Google Adsense.

However – making money isn’t the only objective of the site. The site in question is www.family-night.com

Has anyone else had success with Google Adsense? Any tips, comments, feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Shortly after Windows 7 was released, Apple began airing a series of ads trying to lure away current Windows XP users. You see, in order to upgrade to Windows 7, you would have to do a clean install. That means backing up all your files, programs, settings, etc.

Apples angle? If you have to backup everything anyways – why not just move over to a Mac?

At work, we have finally begun the process of upgrading our access control software (Cisco ACS) from an antiquated version to a more recent one. The issue of upgrading has been forced because of necessary features and our version is nearing End of Life. In addition, we are moving the services off dedicated servers and putting them on VMs. I thought this would be fairly straight forward – it’s become anything but.

You see, there are 2 versions in between where we are and where we want to go. (Much like someone upgrading from XP trying to get to 7). Unfortunately for us, a backup from one version can’t be restored to a new version. Upgrading our production boxes also isn’t an option we want to pursue (because if it fails, we’re really hosed).

So our upgrade path? Build two new VM boxes with the old version. Backup our production boxes and restore onto the new ones. Upgrade the new boxes. Then upgrade them again (because you can’t do a full upgrade, it has to go step-by-step).  Of course, this whole process has to be done under a “lockdown” period – seeing as once we start, we can’t have users changing passwords or have new users created.

If you couldn’t tell it’s a lot of fun…

It’s led me to believe that software developers should be gifted with the ability to see down the road 5-10 years. They should be able to know exactly where they will be tomorrow, so they can better plan for today. I mean – really – how hard can it be?

Realistically however, I know that software progresses rapidly – and often requires a complete redesign every couple iterations. Software has to be re-written to take advantage of newer technology and hardware and scrap the old. Upgrade paths aren’t always the cleanest, and we should be prepared for that. However, wouldn’t it be amazing if software could be coded to evolve? No one would ever need an “upgrade” – unless of course your software evolved into something bad. Or somehow we became slaves to this evolution.

Maybe we’re already there. Perhaps now is a good time to move to a Mac.

When I turned 11 or 12, I received my very own phone for my birthday. However, it wasn’t the same type of phone an 11 or 12 year old would receive today. It wasn’t a cell phone – it wasn’t even wireless. It was a Dale Earnhardt #3 “car” phone.

It didn’t come with my own line – it was just a phone I could use on the house line (however, my parents did eventually give me my own line – because they got tired of me using it to get online with dial up modems). Nevertheless, I cherished the simple nature of what it meant.

This phone couldn’t text, couldn’t play the top radio single as a ring tone, couldn’t watch an episode of the latest sitcom, or browse through your favorite google search. It was a phone. It could make calls and it could receive calls.

Lately I feel as if the phone is losing it’s identity. Phones (especially cell phones) are no longer sold to make and receive calls – they are sold on the basis that you can tweet from the toilet, download an application so you can use your phone as a level, and browse the web at 25,000G speeds.

Now – do I appreciate the fact that my phone reminds me about meetings, lets me check my email, and allows me to reserve a movie on redbox.com? Yes – of course. If technology didn’t advance – I wouldn’t be employed.

I guess my beef stems from the countless people that I see driving outside of their lane because they’re updating their Facebook status. I get annoyed at the people that are too busy playing <insert trendy phone app> to realize they’re about to walk into someone. Or worse yet, when you’re with someone who feels inconvenienced because you can tell they’d rather finish their virtual conversation. A phone shouldn’t be the end all and be all of who someone is – what they think – or control their day to day life.

I suppose I should probably finish this post – my exit is coming up.

There is an evil trend that has taken over the good judgment of people all across our great country. It is the idea that if something bad happens to you – that you find someone to blame and make them pay you money. This idea really makes my blood boil.

Case in point – this article explains how the parents of a boy who was killed by a line drive in a baseball game sued the manufacturer of the bat for “not provid[ing] proper warning about the dangers of using aluminum bats.” Are you kidding me?

Now I realize it would be terrible to lose a child, a pain that I don’t wish upon anyone. This is of course the saddest part of the story. However, this doesn’t justify placing the blame on someone (or in this case – something) for what was probably just a freak accident. I mean come on – have we as a society lost our common sense? Are we indicating that our lives are lived out by other people’s decisions?

I guess it just comes down to this – life isn’t fair. Accidents happen – to both good people and bad. Sometimes there is someone to blame – and sometimes there isn’t. Our response shouldn’t be “who can I blame and how much can I get?”

Don’t you agree?

*My point is confirmed by a rather funny Weird Al song – check it out – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfO9JUNXN7U

For those that don’t remember, Moore’s law states that the number of  transistors that can be placed into an integrated circuit doubles every 2 years. While the original definition ended there, the law has shown to apply to a wide variety of electronic devices, such as processors, memory, pixels in digital cameras, etc.

During the summer of 2007, I finally made the transition from only using a laptop to building a desktop. At the time, it had relatively new components, a Gigabyte P35 motherboard, an Intel e6550, a NVIDIA 8800GTS 320MB graphics card, and 2GB of DDR2 memory at 800mhz. The total system (including hard drive, power supply, monitor) came to roughly $1200.

In the current market, a substantially faster machine could be procured for roughly the same dollar. However, as an IT professional, am I required to “keep up with the Jones’s” as it were? Can someone be technologically “with it” without having it? Does the mantra of an IT guy require the latest and greatest in order to be considered an IT guy?

I think this depends on your attitude. I have witnessed many technologists that didn’t want to evolve because of fear of the unknown. They were complacent with the current system and adhered to the adage “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” A professor of mine in an Operating Systems class once indicated that in 5 years, everything we learned would be obsolete. To stay an IT professional, it would require the lifelong pursuit of knowledge – and couldn’t thrive on anything less.

However – I’m sure there are many who are just like me – too broke to advance. As you can imagine – I’m pretty ok with this group. At least until I can convince my wife we need the newest flavor.

Until then – its vanilla for me.

Last week we had a demo with WebEx – who was recently purchased by Cisco. WebEx is a collaboration tool that enables users to virtually attend meetings and share voice, documents, files, video, etc.

Part of this demo included a marketing pitch that indicated many universities (such as BYU) had switched classes from being held in lecture halls to being held virtually.

Cisco WebEx isn’t the only player in this market. Many have probably seen the recent advertisements on TV for GoToMeeting. Another relatively new one is Yugma. The premise for each is simple – you can save money, time, and travel by virtually holding meetings – while still accomplishing what you need to.

It seems this trend is following that of social networking. You no longer have to stop by and sit down in someone’s living room to find out how they’re doing. All that’s required now is a text, a quick look at their facebook profile, or even a glance at their twitter status. While I agree – the more collaboration the better – I wonder where the line is drawn.

Can a student honestly learn (to the same degree) thru a computer screen as they could in a classroom? Can all meetings accomplish the same thing without having to be in the same physical space at once?

Maybe it’s just me – but I think there’s a difference between productivity and connectivity. To connect with someone requires more than pixels of data.

Changing directions – as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – I attend a 3 hour block of worship services every Sunday. I wonder how things would change if all the meetings became virtual. Would this improve the meetings?

Obviously Web 2.0 is here to stay – sometimes I just wonder at what cost.

One of the classes I took (and was required to) in my study of Information Technology here at BYU was Human Computer Interfacing. This was a study of the interactions between users and technology – and specifically how technology can (and should) be designed to help users accomplish what they need to – faster, easier, and smarter.

But where does one draw the line between designing something user-friendly but also secure?

A prime example of this is the User Account Control (UAC) feature that was implemented in Windows Vista. I’m sure the reasoning Microsoft had was to try and educate, as well as warn users, when potentially harmful activity was occurring. This feature would literally pester the user – constantly. While I skipped the Vista flavor of Windows (I recently moved from XP to Windows 7 and love it), I can recall countless times that users would turn off the function – or simply click Ok without a seconds hesitation. Truly convenience of getting on with whatever the user was trying to do outweighed the warning. (Granted – Windows implementation of this feature wasn’t the greatest…I’m just using it to prove a point. )

Passwords are another point of concern on this topic. I believe it was one of the temps from “The Office” that indicated the only thing she learned was that half the employees used “password” as their password. While this is just a TV show – it’s probably more true than not in the actual workplace. A secure password could be defined as one that is changed every 30-45 days, does not contain family names or words found in a dictionary. It also contains uppercase, lowercase, symbols, numbers, and should range from 8 characters to 16 characters. This seems to be a daunting task for any user – let alone your average Joe.

Recently some changes have been made to the wireless on BYU campus. A secure SSID that implemented WPA or WPA2 and required the user to pass a scanning process that ensured the user was up-to-date with Windows patches and had installed a up-to-date antivirus program. While this added 10-20 seconds more time (after the initial setup) from the previous process – the end result was far more secure than the previous implementation (no security, no scanning). According to the network security team, the amount of viruses, attacks, and malicious activity on the network dropped to rates not before seen. So in reality – not only was the network more secure, but performed better. So a win for the user? No – a number of users were annoyed at the extra time this “inconvenience” caused. I even heard complaints that it was an invasion of privacy – that the network team had no right to know what was on a users computer. Sometimes you just have to sigh.

I think this will continue to be a struggle – until users have a deep enough understanding as to why administrators seem to cause so much “inconvenience.”

Until then…I’m not even sure.

Since I’ve been attending BYU, they have issued decals to be able to park in various lots. There are Y lots (Undergraduate Students), A lots (Faculty/Staff), G lots (Graduate Students), and C lots (on-campus housing). The members of University Police that enforce these lots have been much like the post office – they are out there rain, snow, or shine.

There are also two gates that lead to on-campus driveways – roads that are only accessible to full-time staff. Cars would have to get a little RFID that would open the gate when the antenna came in range of the gate.

Recently, BYU has decided to switch over to a system that uses license plate recognition in lieu of parking stickers or gate openers. It’s a pretty novel concept – instead of issuing stickers or passes, students and faculty merely register their license plates online. Parking lots are now enforced by a car that drives around with a camera on it’s roof that reads license plates to verify parking entitlement. Additionally, cameras were installed by the gates that lead on to campus so that when a car pulls up to the gate, it reads the plate and opens it.

Awesome – no more stickers, no more passes, and no more officers having to be out in the cold during the dead of winter…now only if it worked.

Unfortunately, of the 5 times I’ve had to use the gates on campus – it’s worked for me once. After being instructed to contact parking services – I was told that the system “has issues” and that they’re “working on it.”

Luckily for me I only have to use the gate a couple times a week – I can’t imagine the annoyance daily users must encounter. Perhaps they need to upgrade their new system, because systems are available that “can scan number plates at around one per second on cars traveling up to 100 mph.”

Perhaps BYU employees just need to slow down.

Here’s my blog – probably version 3.0.

Since I already have a family blog (http://brandonandkacey.blogspot.com) – this will be geared more towards my own work, play, thoughts, etc.

So – I’ll see if I can’t get things put together shortly.

Enjoy.