Piracy, it's the way you look at it.

The word piracy still causes many people who did not grow up with technology to think of rough seafaring men who robbed ships and ports and struck terror into the hearts of their victims. These types of pirates have become a popular topic in movies, stories, and fashion.

On the other hand, today most people also realize that piracy does not happen only on the sea and does not always involve pillaging and plundering. Computers have opened the door to another type of piracy, the piracy of people’s intellectual property. It is extremely simple to copy something off the internet for free, or to share what you bought with others for free by making illegal copies.

Because piracy is so easy online and with the use of mass storage devices, many computer users have turned pirate, some without realizing it. It is just a convenient way to obtain the things they want without having to pay any money for the product. This is against copyright laws, and for a good reason.

Imagine if everyone started shoplifting just because it is easy. Most small stores do not have any security on their doors, and they may sell many small products that easily fit inside a pocket or bag. So it is easy to just take it and walk out of the store. Why worry about standing in line at the register and then trading money for it?

The two main reasons that most people do not shoplift are pretty simple. Either people are afraid of the consequences of getting caught or they just know it is wrong. They want to be honest people and give the store what it is due.

So then why do people who would never consider shoplifting still pirate things? There are severe consequences to piracy, and people do get caught. What is missing from this issue is the attitude people have towards the two different crimes. Our parents taught us from a young age that shoplifting is a bad thing to do. Many children will take things from a store and when the parents find out they are scolded and made to return what was taken. On the other hand piracy became easier when the internet was developed. Many parents did not know to teach their children not to pirate things.

Now there are some who brag about their pirating skills, thinking it gives them a cool image and encourages people to want to be their friends because of the free music, software, and other pirated items they can receive. It will be very hard to convince our society that it really is a crime that harms everyone. Artists and developers who have their products pirated are losing money and through that losing the will to create more work that would be pirated away from them. Bit by bit society loses the creative element that each person decides not to contribute.

Some artists and authors have found that their sales actually increase when their products are pirated. For example, Neil Gaiman compares it to lending a book to a friend so they can discover their favorite author. I think if these types of things increase sales then the artists and authors who desire to do so could post samples of their work or downloads that expire after a certain amount of time. This way customers could see if they like it or recommend it to friends and would still support the artist if they wanted to keep it indefinitely.

Another grey area in this debate is what to do about the items that are not available through any means except piracy. The answer to these problems depend on the case, and still there may be no easy solution. If a particular item is no longer published or sold online anywhere, piracy might be considered the only solution. But then the question is, if we didn't have the internet and an item went out of publication, how then would people obtain it? Maybe some things were not meant to be available, users can definitely make the choice to move forward and support a different artist that is still publishing their work.

The common outlook on piracy is that it does not matter, it is too easy to avoid, only a few people get caught, or even that we have a right to distribute the things we buy as we wish. This is the wrong way to look at the issue. Piracy does matter; it does hurt the people whose intellectual property has been stolen, and it needs to come to a stop. All that needs to change are people’s habits and personal view on what they are doing. Spread the word; buy the intellectual property that you appreciate.  

Artificial Intelligence Advancement

A.I. can be hard to visualize for some

Artificial intelligence, or A.I., has been a subject of much interest and research in the computer science field since the fifties. Many movies and other fictional works have been made about robots and other electrical systems thinking like humans and making choices, in some cases even taking over. But is true artificial intelligence possible?

Recently, Science Daily reported on the latest research conducted at Cornell University. They hope to someday have a robot that learns like a human baby does. They do this by showing the robot a series of pictures that are similar, like a set of different cups for instance, and letting the robot know how to hold it or handle it. Then they give the robot a new cup and let the robot make the connection on how to handle this based on the previous similar objects.

I feel that this by itself is a great big step in the direction of finally having robots that can think for themselves, but the researchers are going even farther. They let the robot know that a cup set on the counter should be right side up, but in the dishwasher it should be put upside-down. Then the robot has to decide for itself how to place each object. Finally, the researchers show the robot how to use context clues to find objects in a room. The example they gave is that it is easier to find a computer monitor in a room rather than a keyboard. So if the robot is asked to find a keyboard it first locates the monitor then looks to see if the keyboard is under it.

With all the steps these researchers have taken in advancing artificial intelligence thought processes, I feel confident that I will live to see robots thinking for themselves and aiding humans in making decisions. The science fiction movies can finally come true.

The next question should be, do we really want robots to be able to come to life, think like people do?  Just as science fiction gives hope for a technologically advanced future, it also gives warning, for in most of those stories the robots revolt or malfunction in some way and people are put in danger.

The idea of robots going wrong can seem sort of doomsday, but in all reality we depend on computers now. If the computers malfunction we already have problems. With technological advancement the danger of people relying too much on their technology remains the same. Also the need for programmers to create and maintain the technology remains the same, the only thing that changes seems to be the way the software works and fits into our lives.

Most computer programmers are excited about the advancement of artificial intelligence because it means exploring a new frontier of technology. The idea that computers could begin to think for themselves and maybe someday help us solve some of our problems is an encouraging thought that brings more and more interest to artificial intelligence programming.

One situation that I have not heard anyone else talk about before would be if we make robots to think like humans, and then shape them to look like humans, how long will it be before they start questioning why they cannot be considered humans and given human rights?

Every time mankind takes another step into the future, hundreds of new concerns, debates, and issues are created as society tries to make a place for the advancement. Change causes questions and turmoil but it also brings a betterment of society and further advancement for all. Some may worry about the coming of artificial intelligence, but I am excited to see the fiction come true. 

Webs, a great website builder

In today’s society of technology, most technologically savvy people find themselves either needing or wanting their own personal website. Some need it for business or group reasons and some want it for their own personal entertainment. For whatever the need, computer scientists have designed many varieties of website builders to fill this need.

Many people have probably heard of Dreamweaver, which costs quite a bit and should have some training to use, or a large selection of free but not nearly as customizable sites, for example Wetpaint. Other website builders are free but require a credit card number in case you wish to get the paid version later. All of them have pros and cons for balancing price over convenience and customizability. Webs has an efficient balance of it all.

Webs is a free website builder that you do not need to download. This is a huge plus because you do not need to take up space on your personal computer and you can also use it to change your website from any computer you log onto. Free software is of course wonderful, especially for college students and anyone else looking for a website just for fun.

Sign up page of Webs

Signing up is easy because it asks only for an email address, password, and information for the site creation. During this process there are helpful text boxes that guide you through in a timely manner and do most of the thinking for you. I particularly like that this makes it almost effortless to create the account, showing a great user friendly design.

After signing up and verifying the email address, Webs begins to show the new user how to create the pages they want on their website, add content, and make it look just right. There are a multitude of background templates to choose depending on style and color preferred. Pages for text, photos, videos, blogging, forums, calendar, contact, news, and members are offered to make the set up of these specific types easier.

Webs offers around thirty different applications and many more fun add-ons for the pages such as games and Facebook “like” buttons.  The applications do require a download but it is up to the user whether they wish to use this feature or not. Slightly more advanced users can add HTML code to the pages to create their own add-ons or specific looks not offered in the original customizations.

Gaining more followers to ones website in today’s world of mobile phones usually means it makes sense to have a mobile friendly version of the website. Not to worry, Webs has an option to create a mobile friendly version as well. That way users can log on to see a Webs created site from wherever they are.

Though Webs has all of these great features, it is still a free website. Nothing that is free is perfect, and Webs is not as perfectly customizable as some more advanced users would prefer.  The add on widgets are of course preset and layouts have many choices but limit the user from being truly unique. A Webs user cannot create their website completely from scratch as a Dreamweaver user can, but that suits many users who would prefer to use presets rather than designing all the minute details.

Overall Webs is an extremely user friendly and well made website builder. The creators of Webs can give themselves a pat on the back. It works well for any need in the range from fun to light business use and from beginning creators to moderately skilled creators. I would recommend anyone looking for free and easy website creation to use Webs. However, highly skilled users may be more interested in the more precisely customizable website builders such as Dreamweaver.

So, if Webs sounds like a fit for the website you need to build, go ahead and give it a try at Webs.com.

The Computer Science Field

When you think of computer programmers, does your mind normally envision geeky guys with pocket protectors standing in an office with a cup of coffee? Well stereo types are formed for a reason and there are some people in the field that would fit that image. But there are also very normal and non geeky people who are interested in making computers bend to their will and so they enter the field.

The computer science field has a wide range of jobs that includes software engineer, software test engineer, software developer, programmer analyst, systems developer, and web developer.  But what does that all mean? These jobs share the fact that computer science people enjoy creating things and testing them using computer code.

Why is any of this important to the everyday person? Imagine going from where we are now, with facebook, google, youtube, and all sorts of entertainment and research right at our fingertips, and suddenly losing it all, going back to the pre-computer time. Many people would lose their jobs, life styles would change dramatically, and addicts would have severe withdrawal. This is just the small scale that people first think of when they imagine a world without their computers. But it is much bigger than that.

In fact, the entire world economy could collapse. Billions of bits of information stored in computers around the world would be lost, including bank records, histories, scientific data, This is what might happen if there were no more people in the field of computer science or any of the related fields.Eventually all the remaining computers would shut down with no one to service them, resulting in much chaos all over the world.

Not to sound too doomsday, but computer scientists are needed to create the software that runs every company, every computer, and everything else with a computer chip inside. Computer scientists are also needed to keep these systems running and up to date, to do any troubleshooting necessary. The people who are interested in lines of code, languages that the general public does not know, and keeping computer systems running and advancing are the people who are interested in the bachelor of science in the computer science field.

Some college students may also choose to obtain the computer science bachelor of art, rather than science. These people go on to design most of the graphics the computers use, from icons to life-like video game graphics. Creating games is one of the largest projects for computer programmers to undertake. Many people are needed to work in a team in order to create the next best game.

Computer programmers are very adept at comparing ideas and working together to create the best product. The field of computers is always changing and advancing so most computer science people need to continue taking classes and learning for their entire careers. Continued learning is an important sign that the field of computers is advancing and moving forward with the future, not holding us back.

People in the field of computer science value learning and efficiency, the faster the program works and the smaller it is the better. Most also value honesty, it is relatively easy to pirate things in the world of technology and this causes the creators of the pirated technology to lose money.

Computer programming is not something that people automatically know how to do. It may seem as if certain people are born coding, but they all took the time to learn it at one time, even if it was at a very young age. There are bunches of languages in the computer world and computer programmers eventually learn how to read and use a majority of them. Not every programmer is the geeky stereotype envisioned before. Some are just normal people like you and me. If you are interested in learning a bit of coding yourself, you might want to try this java tutorial website or any number of other language tutorials available online. If you like it, consider majoring in computer science.