David's New Blog

3D printing

• Explain the tech; what is it, how does it work, what hardware, software, and network does it need?
  Is it currently available to the public?
  • 3d printing is a way to make digital designs physical. It melts down materials like plastic or metals to make thin layers and merge multiple of those layers to make the design Link

• Who (or what) invented or pioneered the technology?
  • Chuck Hull invented 3d printing according to National Inventors

• What “problem” does it solve for its users?
  • According to Twi-Global.com there are many good things. You have flexible design, rapid prototyping, strong lightweight parts, and fast design and production.

• Are there any potential drawbacks or dangers of using the tech?
  • Some drawbacks are Limited materials because not everything is usable, Building Size because machines have a limit to how big of a thing they can make, and reduction of people’s jobs because 3d printers could make it so we don’t need a lot of mechanical workers according to Twi-global.com

• Offer one example of how widespread adoption of this technology might impact society.
  • According to HP.com 3d printing is so world wide that it is used for art, Healthcare, and science. And from my personal standpoint, I use 3d printing for toys and sometimes figurines

Temu and TikTok are the top 2 in trending on the Google Play store as of 11/13/2024

Temu is a Digital marketplace and that has a large number of items. Many things are cheap because they don’t have a brand. Link. According to Medium.com, Their target audience are people between the ages of 25-34. Temu makes revenue through Advertisements and commission-based sales. Site used. Commission-based sales are “the additional money reps earn on top of a base salary for achieving specific goals.” Source. One trick you could use is signing up as a new user. Doing this can get you free items. Link

TikTok is a video platform that you can watch and make short videos.  TikTok was originally targeting Gen Z but Gen x and boomers started getting into it. Businesses are also into it because it means a new way to promote their things. Source Tiktok gets money mainly from Ads. They sell some spaces for ads to businesses. Link One trick to get more views is to use hashtags. If you have a hashtag on it, the algorithm can find it and suggest it to others who like that stuff. Link

Clouds are cool. Sometimes they make shapes in the sky. And as much as I want to talk about clouds, were talking about Cloud Storage.

Cloud storage is a way to connect to remote servers to save data. These servers then connect to many different ones in other areas so you can connect to them. Source

I use 3 different types of the Cloud. Google drive is one of them. Google drive is an application/website that uses Cloud features. You can store digital things, like pictures, PDFs, Documents like slides, sheets and many other things like that. You do have a limited amount of storage. You can access this everywhere and download whatever is saved on it. If this didn’t have cloud features, it would just be a hard drive or something like that. There are some security issues but that would be the fault of the user for not making a strong password.

One drive is the second. It’s basically the same as Google drive but looks a little different. It also has less storage than Google drive.

The third one is Genshin Impact Cloud. I don’t use this a lot because it costs money for time to play, but I do get 15 minutes after daily login and a free trial of over 200 minutes. This version is used if Users want to install the game without all the storage being taking up on their device if they get the full game. The game transfers from the cloud to the device and requires high speed internet connection or it will lag hard, and possibly (depending on the situation) kill your character. Loading into the game on this app is a little more tough because there is a capacity limit in their servers so you have to wait, but it is so their players can get the best experience from it. In my opinion, the fully downloaded version is a lot better because you don’t have to wait for a line to go down to get in, and you don’t always need the greatest connection only downside is storage.

1. Which 3 social media sites are the most used?

The most popular social media site is Facebook with 3.05 billion monthly active users. The second most used is YouTube with 2.70 billion Monthly active users. The third most used is WhatsApp with 2.40 billion monthly active users.  ExplodingTopics.com

2. Give a summary about how the sites work.

Facebook: you can Post pictures, videos, Reels (Shortform videos that are about 90 seconds long). You can comment, React, get notified about new posts, and join groups with people or you can ‘like’ pages (basically follow that page)

YouTube: A site that you can use to post videos, Shorts (Shortform videos that are 60 seconds long and are pretty similar to Reels), or some posts (not seen very often). You can also comment, and you can react, but reactions are limited to likes (and dislikes). You can also subscribe to different Youtubers (creators).

WhatsApp: An App and site that can be used like a messaging system. you can make group chats, do calls, post a status (Sort of like shortform videos, but more personal depending on what you post). You can find Channels (sort of like a “follow” for other types of social media), create communities (probably just bigger group chats).

3. What are “demographics” and how are they useful for social media?

Demographics are statistics based on characteristics of their users (Age, Gender, Location, education, etc. (reading this concerns me that they know more about what we like than maybe some good friends)) and each platform will be different than others. They are useful for businesses to know if they are targeting the right audience, and what type of media is most popular. Source

4. Explain any demographics that stand out among the three social media sites you listed above. (More popular with a specific age group, are majority of users male or female, married or single, employees or self-employed, etc.)

An interesting demographic about:

Facebook: Most of the users are from India. Excerpt

Youtube: Users are mostly in between the age of 15-30 Link

Whatsapp: Popular with people in between 18-34

5. How much time do people spend on each social media?

A little under 2 and a half minutes according to Statista.com

6. Which of the 3 platforms picked are growing the fastest?

Whatsapp because it grew 7% since 2023, compared to facebook which grew 5%  Link

7. What is the main way people access these sites?

With all 3 platforms, Mobile devices are used the most. Facebook:Link Whatsapp:Source Youtube: Refrence

Denial of Service/Distributed Denial of Service: https://www.a10networks.com/blog/5-most-famous-ddos-attacks/

https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/how-were-tackling-evolving-online-threats/

https://www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/ddos-attack

First off, to know what or how a thing would happen, you should know what DDos is. DDos is short for Denial of service/Distributed Denial of Service. It is a form of cybercrime that a person can use to cause Internet trafficking and flooding of a server. Motivations can vary. From proving a point to companies competing against each other.

Google has had some DDos attacks. But were going to be more focused towards the one in 2023. This attack had about 398 million requests per second(rps), basically 7 and a half times bigger. They were targeting major parts of google like Google Cloud and Google Services. They worked with industry partners to understand the attacks and protect the internet and its people. If they can’t understand or prevent these attacks, many bad things can happen to organizations not involved. They learned that the attack was using a method called “Rapid Reset” and they updated their ddos defenses and find more ways to make the issue less severe. Eventually they share info about it and things start getting better.  Google’s Blog

So in super short, Google was attacked in 2023, with many organizations falling with them. Many organizations work with Google to try and fix the issue, and they sort of do by updating their defenses causing it to be less severe. Eventually, they share info and things are sort of back to normal. They don’t mention anyone or group organizing the attack, so there is no info on if a group was held accountable

So to prevent this from happening, if you have a http workload, you could be at risk of attacks. You could check to verify if the servers are not vulnerable. Another way is to apply Vendor Patches for CVE-2023-44487 to limit the attack. If its your own server, you should immediately apply a patch when available.

• Some of our potential threats are:
• • Loss or theft of equipment or data: IT equipment stolen or lost and used to make money or access systems.
  • Social engineering: A way for criminals to trick people into giving info or installing some Malware onto our devices.
  • Malware: a type of software that can steal our info or ruin a system so it can’t work. Viruses and Ransomware are common examples.
  • Ransomware: a type of malware that criminals could use to lock our data, forcing us to pay them a ransom.
  • Supply Chain Attacks: When criminals target their vendors and suppliers to target our organizations system.

https://405d.hhs.gov/Documents/405d-infographic-10practices.pdf

https://fortifydata.com/blog/what-are-the-5-main-threats-to-cybersecurity/

The Top 5 Cybersecurity Threats and How to Defend Against Them (isaca.org)

• Identify at least 5 digital processes, systems, and/or functions your company has in place. Importantly, address how could those be exploited or manipulated in order to gain access to valuable corporate or customer data?
  • Our Company has A bank account that sends money to the workers: Can be exploited by some workers to as the bank to get account info out of them.
  • Has an online store: They could change somethings like where the money is sent to, or they could put in ransomware making the company not able to access it.
  • Has a supplier: If they are not a secure supplier, they could be hacked, this could lead into getting into our system when we refill our stock.
  • Has employees: it’s possible some might not know how to stay safe from some things and might install malware accidentally, or might think a bank is calling when in actuality, they might be calling a criminal trying to destroy or damage the organization
  • Has 3 separate buildings: could potentially break in and steal some equipment. Or could potentially lose equipment.

• As the chief technology executive, make 5 recommendations that your company should adopt to be more safe, secure, and reliable. Again, consider hardware, software, networks, and human policies and procedures. (e.g., appropriate use policy on corporate computers; firewall; SSL/web encryption; backup/retention
  • Have meeting every month to learn what social engineering is and how to prevent malware or something from ruining things
  • Make sure to check if suppliers are secure
  • Add a firewall to prevent things like malware interfering with our website.
  • Give access to a few trustworthy employees as a backup to get into the website if there are issues with ransomware. Make sure doors are locked before leaving so no devices are taken. Make sure to not have any important info when your out and about.
  • Make sure to sign off all devices before leaving or closing.

Content Management System, also known as CMS, is a type of application that lets users create, edit the content they are using. It also has ways for people to have individual roles. For example, administrators can give and take access to and from people. Editors can edit things and modify. CMS is also made of 2 different things. One way is for people to use formats like HTML, CSS, or JavaScript to make things the way you want them to be visually, allowing you to make it fit the style you like. The other way is not using Html or coding languages like that. Many examples are Microsoft word, Google Slide, Docs, Canva, Squarespace and more. these examples allow you to center words on a sheet, organize pictures, share and distribute roles like admin or editor. Oracle.com

The difference is that one is an application/website that lets you be creative with the stuff people give you. The code version is where you can have free range of whatever you want to make with the limits of your time and knowledge. The Application version can give templates to start you off and you can do this without special or technical skills. Some downsides are that whatever you get on that application or site, you get. you can’t add anything else. oracast.com

Some pros about the Code version for website design are that it takes less time, its efficient, you can start from scratch and lets you be more creative, but the cons are that it would be harder to keep updated. Pros about the Application is that you have templates and lets you design your own website without needing technical skills, but the cons are that you are limited with the options you get. CMS vs. Web Development – Differences and Choosing | Atiba Orcast.com

I can’t find a lot of info, but a redditor on Reddit that goes by the name of sleepycharlie mentions that he is glad that people outside development have this type of technology. this person then goes on about how his friend used Wix to make a website. Based on this, it does affect many freelance workers who work on website design; however, site developers are still at a good point because they have more range instead of being limited by things they don’t have.

1. Which do people use more, Computers or Phones?

• According to Research.com, More people use their phones more than Laptops. A user on Reddit posted something asking why phones are more addicting than computers. Many people replied saying that its portable, Has better lifespan than laptops, Can’t lie down with a computer, and more like that.  Research.com also says
  “categories such as video games, movies, computer hardware, and digital content have the highest mobile share of purchases.”

2. Who controls the entire Internet? What makes the internet, the “internet”?

• Britannica.com says No Single Person controls the internet. EliteGroup.com says the same while going more in depth. Many people Played big roles, like Tim Berners Lee thought of making Hypertext, connecting Hyperlinks.

3. What is Tim Berners Lee known for and who is he?

• Tim Berners Lee is an English computer scientist that invented the world wide web by Combining Hyperlinks with the internet. w3.org and EliteGroup.com

4. What is a blog?

• A Blog is “a website on which one person or group puts new information regularly, often every day” according to Cambridge English dictionary.

5. What is a “responsive” website design?

• Responsive Website design is when a website adjusts screen resolution and auto resizes images. Smashmagazine.com

6. Why are “responsive” website designs necessary?

• They are necessary because as more screen sizes come out websites will have to adjust to new phone screen sizes and new computer sizes. Smashmagazine.com

7. What is SEO, and why should some people be scared about it?

• Constantcontact.com says that Search Engine Optimization is getting your website to show up through online results. People should worry because “if you don’t optimize it correctly, then you risk looking potential customers.”

8. What is dynamic content?

• Dynamic content is “content on a web page that changes based on factors like user data, and user location.” It sounds to me like someone’s For You page on social media. Storyly.com

9. What is a content management system? And what are some examples of one?

• Optimizely.com describes content management system as “a web application or software that manages digital content”

10. What is a YouTube channel? Who might want to start one?