A Podcast worthy of your Time

There are so many pod-casts out there nowadays, it can really be hard to find one you enjoy and give your time to. For many reasons I never really got into pod-casts. Typically the info I consume online comes loose and quick.

But recently for an assignment I had in class I was asked to review a pod-cast in the technology sector. What I didn't realize was how many I was actually going to listen to before I found one I honestly wanted to share. Finally I did find one, so here it is!!

I found this cast buy doing a general search for "tech pod-casts' on Google. It was listed on www.pepfeed.com as one of the top 8 casts to listen to. It was 6th on the list but easily could have been #1.

The conversation took place with Jeff Weiner, who just happened to be the CEO of Linked-In. I thought that was pretty ironic due to the fact that this was for my social media class. He shared a brief history of how he came to be with Linked-In and some of his ideas about the social media landscape.

Perhaps it was his radio friendly voice or his message in general but I found the interview so inspirational. He was very calm, confident, and informative. I actually listened to it twice and currently it's playing in the background as I write this.

The host was a hoot!! You could tell she has had some really aggressive interviews just by the way she handled herself, but also that she was extremely knowledgeable which made the interview much more enjoyable.

If you have a little more than a half hour of time to spend, this is well worth it. I had a completely different idea of what most modern pod-casts could offer me in terms of insight and I'm happy to stand corrected with that fact.

Enjoying a little talk with TED

TED talks have been around for many years now, but it never stops amazing me how fun and informative they are. Recently for an assignment, we were suppose to select and review a TED talk and blog about it.

It was not an easy task to pick out a single talk and then review it. I kind of went on a TED binge in the past 48 hours. BUT, good news, there was one that really stuck out in my head that I wanted to share with everyone.

The TED platform has never solely been about how great a presentation is, but more focused on the concept of sharing ideas. This video I think embodies that mindset. As Johnny Lee opens, he sets the stage for re purposing technology that wasn't even available 10+ years ago. Not only did he explain how to use inexpensive solutions to get more value out of existing tech but was able to demonstrate multiple uses for it as well.

During the talk, you can tell that Johnny was nervous; slightly sweating, the speed in his voice switching and using his hands consonantly to steady himself. It's what made me enjoy this talk more than anything.

You can have a great idea that's worth sharing but sometimes it doesn't help if you can't get an audience. I'd like to think this was one of his most difficult challenges, (of course this is only from watching his 6min video) to stand up there on stage and share his idea with a live audience.

I can relate, public speaking is one of those things you have to work at if it doesn't come naturally and that's why I really got into this one. I never watched TED talks for how calm or professional someone was presenting. That helps keep in audience focused of course, but I truly enjoy the ideas people are sharing and the fact that they are willing to get on stage and share them with the world.

Week 8 came out of nowhere!!

WOW!!!

So before I knew it, here I am half way through my first semester back to school. There are such a massive amount of projects and tasks to keep me busy I had almost forgot that I should take some time out to blog about it.

While I do enjoy the social media side of interacting, I've found I spend a lot of my time outside of class either discussing topics with my peers or sharing what I've been doing with friends and family.
There's still something to be said about being able to have a face to face conversation with someone verses online.

Let's see, I think it would be nice to share a little review from each of my current classes. That sounds like fun, right?

First up...
ITNET 101 - Intro to Networks
This class started off a little fuzzy. After the first week we lost our instructor because he had to cover for another teacher that decided to retire and funny enough I got the same instructor that I have for my Cisco class so that was a bonus. Then, because of the instructor switch, apparently no one could get access to one of the main learning tools online for the netlabs (which by the way are SUPER fun to do) so we ended up being behind 3 weeks worth of material (from labs) before anyone had access. All and all though, the intro course has been extremely helpful. Most of the material is pretty self explanatory if you've ever used a computer but I am very happy about the amount of detail it goes into the inner workings of network functions. Also, I can't say it enough...the netlabs are awesome!!

Next...
ITNET 110 - Microsoft Windows 7 Desktop Management
So this has been by far the most challenging of my courses. I think primarily because I've been using Windows 7 since beta and have come to learn the lazy mans way of using the system. Our instructor has a great way of explaining some of the more technical theories around how windows actually works which has been a huge help. Also, like the other courses the additional learning material offered online as part of the course is super helpful. What I've come to learn more and more about the Windows system itself is that, the variations in the file systems and policy settings, there are so many ways to secure the system and still have it function enough to work in a business environment. Which at first I honestly didn't think could be done without just unplugging the Ethernet cable :)

Then...
IT 107 - Social Networking and Business
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect with this class at first, but I love the instructors lectures more and more each week. He's very passionate and extremely involved in using social media and online tools to explain how to create a professional persona. It's not a traditional class with quizzes and tests. There isn't a mid-term or final exam, rather there are objectives and interactions that are required you be a part of. It's really one of those classes where you literally get out of it what you put into it. It's also the class that's responsible for the past couple months of my online activity. So, just in case there's any complaints I can give you my instructors name :)

Finally...
ITNET 131 - Cisco 1
This is the class I knew I wanted to take as soon as I saw the program it was listed for. Personally, these past few years I've been building a nice little network since I bought a house. It's been like a little play land for setting up wireless devices, setting up my network with all the computer linked together and running cables through the walls so I could plug in any devices I wanted to, in any part of the house. So, working with the top notch Cisco equipment has been awesome. One of the more interesting things is that the basis of how to work with Cisco gear from an education standpoint lines up with the intro to networks class so when I work through a chapter in that class it covers all the required cisco material, except for the hardware aspect, but that means I get more time to work with the gear. I actually decided to purchase a couple old 2960 switches so I can play with them at home as much as I want.

Well, that's were I am thus far. There's still much more to learn but I am already excited about finishing up this semester, setting my sights on my certifications and getting next semesters classes lined up. This was a lengthier blog so thanks for reading and I'll be sure to keep some more updates coming after midterms.

Twitter vs Facebook

This weeks blog I wanted to try and compare two companies who use social media to communicate with their respective audiences. Twitter and Facebook are right now by far the most popular of social media outlets, but each platform really does differ from the other so I wanted to investigate two companies that I am actually involved and familiar with.


UFC and Blizzard Entertainment

Head to Head on Twitter

Blizzard stats:                                   UFC stats:

Tweets - 70.2K                                  Tweets - 59.8K

Followers - 573K                                Followers - 2.67M

Following - 114                                   Following - 19.2K

So right off the bat I noticed that the UFC tries to do their best to interact with people who tweet or retweet any and everything regarding MMA or the UFC itself. It really shows in that they return the favor and follow fans that really stay involved in the fights or fighters.

Blizzard however does little in terms of interacting with fans that tweet or promote their products. The most interaction I gathered were primarily from what look like 3rd party vendors or people with very specific complaints about the function of a product or game.

I will say that both companies however do a really good job at promoting upcoming events or releases. The advantage the UFC has though is that their many events throughout the year are still all hosted and promoted in one location. Whereas Blizzard Entertainment really is just the hub for the variety of games that they have. So if you're interested in staying up to date on all or one specific event or game you have to follow multiple feeds on twitter.

I did attempt to interact with both companies over this past week on twitter. While I didn't receive any direct responses, I did get a few 'Favorite' hits on my tweets at the UFC. (Maybe because they had a PPV this weekend)


Head to Head on Facebook

Blizzard stats:                                  UFC stats:
Likes - 2,915,945                              Likes -17,420,220
Founded - 2/8/1991                           Founded - 1/1/1993

What I found interesting about the Facebook interaction in comparison between the two companies was that there was an obvious presence from Blizzard moderators. Both companies allow open posting on their pages with very few restrictions. But Blizzard most certainly appears to prefer the interaction on facebook with fans instead of twitter. I noticed quite a few humorous replies to peoples posts.

Surprisingly I don't think I saw one reply or direct response to the fan activity on the UFC facebook page. There's also a pretty huge difference between the amount of material posted on facebook over the amount posted via twitter. Of course when it's fight weekend like it was this last week there is a noticeable increase in on both platforms.

Summary

All together I think both companies do very well with providing up to date information about their products and events. Blizzard seems to try and pull you in with nostalgia quite a bit more than the UFC, or that could just be my bias, but the UFC really uses twitter in a superior manner and it shows in their following/follower numbers. Even though Blizzard Entertainment has plenty of sublayer accounts, I.E. World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, etc., they really don't compare to the amount of fans who are more engaged on the UFC platforms.

I do like the fact that Blizzard does section off their respective games to other accounts but the overall feel between the company that provides those games and fans shows a pretty big disconnect which I believe hurts their ability to reach more audience members from those other accounts.

IPv4 and the Binary Breakdown

Had a really good time at school today.

Our Cisco class today consisted of a short lecture than open lab time. I like how our instructor Mr. Stark breaks things down. He really does like to add some humor in a topic that is pretty technical in nature and he also gives the class an opportunity to answer questions that are presented.

Normally I'll have just enough time to jot down some math on a scratch piece of paper to get a response going. Most instructors won't do that, consistently at least, so it shows how patient he is. Which is great because I'm normally asking plenty of questions too.

We were discussing how to break down IP assignments between the network and host portions of an address and how to find the pattern to gather the range of IP's you could assign. The math itself isn't overly complicated but the fact that you have to redo your formula as soon as you move from bit to another bit outside of octets is what was tripping me up a little.

Then he made it SO much easier after we started breaking things down into binary. In a 32 bit address scheme the 4 octets that are separated by dots are really only for humans to figure out what's going on. I'll be honest, I kinda giggled until he explained what he  meant.

So when we look at an IP address we see 192.168.2.1, but a computer just understands binary. So they don't see those dots. So when you break down an IP to binary (I'll use the one from up top here) it looks like this  11000000 10101000 00000010 00000001. Removing the dots in the addressing seemed to make it easier for me to convert.

Here's a table I found that breaks it down by bits in each octet.

Of course this was only half of the solution. There still is the subnet mask which is what will tell a computer which part of the IP address to use as the network and host portions. In some cases it appears that the subnet mask is more important to understand than the IP address itself, because understanding the amount of hosts you can use will determine how large your network can be.

It took me a minute but we did a few more range calculations and it all made sense to me. Then I realized how massive and particular any one network could be.

Here's a video I found if you're interested in really learning this concept step by step.

IP Addresses and Subnetting

DEMO DAY!! But I don't destroy anything

Hi everyone, I was super excited to try my hand at a video blog. I decided to go with a demonstration of how to make an ethernet cable.

A couple of notes:

The materials shown can be purchased online or at your local Home Depot.
The quality of the video isn't the highest so I apologize if some parts go in and out of focus
Great YouTube channel related to networking. Eli The Computer Guy

I got your Protocol right here buddy!

This past week I've been extremely excited to learn how network protocols work. I'm pretty amazed at the amount of protocols there are and still some how these things work around each other.

So when I hear the word protocol, I think of a way something has to be done. For example: When you approach a red light when driving, the protocol is to stop your vehicle and wait until you see the green light which gives you the signal to proceed. Nothing to tricky about that, but we don't call it a driving protocol or RLGLP (Red Light, Green Light Protocol), everyone that's taught to drive learns those are the rules. It that scenario then, I guess I would be the computer, but it only makes sense to me because I know how to drive.

I started having some issues trying to figure out how apply that logic to network protocols. In theory the definition of protocol doesn't change. Completely simplified, it's a set of rules used to communicate information. So when I ask someone what is the most common network protocol they know, I would most likely be told it's TCP/IP.

But what does that mean? Where does this protocol come from? How and when is it applied? Can we just go back to red light, green light please?

Now TCP/IP is really just one of thousands of protocols that a computer uses. And while it's not required to know every protocol, it's extremely important to know why certain protocols are being used.  With that being said you might think I have book that is titled "Protocols, LOL Have Fun Buddy!", but actually I don't. 

There was a class I had last week that really opened my mind up to how these things interact with each other. I'll be honest, it was pretty simple after it was explained and it made me pretty happy after it clicked. Below is a slide that tried to explain what happens when a protocol is used.

After this was broke down a bit for me I was able to wrap my head around the entire concept. The picture above represents a protocol. There are two people talking, they can understand one another, and they take turns talking. When one person called, the other one says hello, and when they are done talking whoever is last to speak says goodbye. BOOM, protocol in action.

So then I realized I wasn't as confused about protocols I as I thought. I really just wanted to know what all the protocols were and what they do. So when it comes to computer protocols there really is only one goal that they have, which is to communicate the data that relates to that specific protocol. Every time you try to send or receive information on your computer there are a ton of protocols that jump into action. Whether it be to communicate within the hardware, software or over the network. 

For me this is one of the coolest aspects of networking so far because it's not just about knowing why protocols are used. I really want to know when protocols are used, for what purpose, what data are they sharing, what rules are applied at any one time?

As I continue the semester I really look forward to getting heavy into protocols, because they provide all the rules needed to understand whats really going on with network communication. 

And if you don't know the rules, you can't play the game.

Weekend Review - 2 Weeks at MATC

It has been two weeks of class' here at MATC and I couldn't be more motivated. What I've found I enjoy more than just learning new things is the massive amount of resources that is provided by the college and instructors.

Of course we know that "the Google" reins supreme when it comes to providing information, but when it comes to having material taught to you I have to say that MATC really has a great understanding of what it takes to mold minds into the plug and play model.

While every class does have a book assigned to it, there are a lot of compliments to them as well. Two of my courses have access to CBTNuggets which is an awesome video tutorial series helping guide you along the course material.

Also, being enrolled at MATC (in an IT program) gives you access to DreamSpark which allows you to download free full versions of programs that relate to the course material. This is great so that most of us don't have to use our "work-a-rounds" to practice on applications that give us experience using up to date tools in the industry.

Then of course there are very specific tools related to the Cisco classes. By far the most challenging of the classes but with the most resources to offer. I hands down love how they've developed their program. You have online quizzes, pretests, interactive tutorials, and what must be their crowning achievement, the packet tracer program. This program simulates active, real time network traffic and is remarkably thick. There are guides that walk you through processes and a checker button to analyze what you have and haven't accomplished in any one practice. If I could meet the team that had the idea to put this together I would give them all a hug...for real.

Aside from the amazing amount of resources I find the instructors lectures increasingly helpful. There's an honest sense of wanting to make sure we succeed and they all seem to genuinely care if we need help on a topic. They all have real world experience and they appear to grasp the course material in a way to present it in a meaningful manner. That and they all have a sense of humor. Even if the majority of the material is technical its refreshing to see how they can toss a joke in here and there while referring to something.

The last and I dare to say the most valuable resources I found that we have is each other. One of our classes we are strongly encouraged to work with each other, inside and outside of class. There are so many tools at our disposal that I have never thought of using but now see how remarkable they can be. Specifically the ability to work on documents live with another person. If you never have, let me tell you, there's something extremely exciting about sharing information in real time with someone who's right there on your screen. Checking notes, bouncing ideas back and forth, it's really something.

There's much more to learn as I progress though the semester. I plan on sharing some of the things I learn along the way. Until next time!

The Time is Now - Returning to MATC

As I sit down to write this post, I struggle quite a bit to think of what I want to say. What should I say to the big bad Internet out there? 

Last week, I returned to school, just like I have in the past. But this time it feels different. I have a goal, a plan and this is just the first step in it. A little back story should help...

In 2003-2004, I enrolled at MATC to gain a Marketing and Business Management degree. At that time I had dreams of helping create a video game empire. Every little kids' dream, right? My best friend since 1st grade and I had already been working on a Multi-User Dungeon (MUD), a few online games and stories for our very own RPG. He was and still is an excellent programmer, which at that time was simply the baseline for making a video game. We had a few other people involved, someone for art, I knew a couple local bands that would do music if needed, and a couple of contributors for story and design. 

I personally wasn't too great at programming, although I tried. And my art and music talents were less than desirable. But there was one thing I was pretty good at; getting people together, starting a dialogue and forming a game plan. Which all seemed to fit a degree in business, but alas life got in the way and I had to put school by the wayside.

Fast forward 11 years... Marriage, child, house and a career in production had left me out of the technology game. Most of my friends involved in computers had already established strong careers and I, while satisfied with my personal life, struggled more and more each day enjoying my professional journey.

I still kept up with new technology, because ever since my first computer I just couldn't get enough. From games, to design, music, and everything in between, I still loved it. 

Then, things started falling into place for a comeback. 

In the back of my head I had always said, "If this happens, I'm going back to school." "If that happens, I know I can do it." If that, if this; those terms had basically been running through my mind ever since I left school. So finally, with the support of my wife, friends, and family I pulled the trigger. 

So here I am world!! Enrolled in the Network Specialist Program at MATC. Why networking? Well because just like humans, computers love to talk to each other and I love getting people together for a chat.