Women Chose without Force

Right now, women enjoy the freedom to chose to be a computer science major or not. Ron Wyden ventures to guess in his paper Title IX and Women in Academics that women are forced out of computer science by lack of equal access and discrimination. This is not true. Women have found other majors of more interest to them. You can't force women to study what they don't want to study. One sided incentives for women in computer science would not improve the drive necessary for women to compete in the fast passed software marketplace and would be discriminating against men. There are many majors that men shy away from, not because they are discriminated against, but because they are less interested. Men and Women are naturally different with different interests and goals. We should not force them to be the same. The educational freedom women have now are equal to men and should stay that way.

How to win friends and influence people

Any avid Facebook user knows that social media is the quickest and easiest way to get a message out. From the article Using Social Media for Gospel Purposes we are encouraged to share our testimony of Jesus Christ through social media. If you have a lot of friends on Facebook and love sharing the gospel, what easier way to share your testimony then over Facebook. A message through Facebook or Twitter can be sent to as many as one thousand people simultaneously. Brother Calderon, for example, created a simple event for saints to post their testimony of Christ. He expected about 4 to 500 testimonies, but got 23,000. Sharing your testimony can influence your friends for good and through social networks this has never been easier.

Business Practices with Copyrights

Businesses never get any respect. From reading "MP3s Are Not the Devil" we can see that Orson Scott Card is frustrated with the choices and practices of businesses through copyrighting. Copyrighting is our method of giving back to the inventors of new thought processes or stories. The way Card complains about companies taking advantage of their customers sounds passionate, but also contradictory. He complains of copyright laws being taken advantage of by companies because artists sign contracts that give up their rights. This is a choice by the artist to give up their copyright for the risk that the company takes on by using it. The company risks losing money by using the artists art when they could turn a profit. He also complains about how companies treat their customers badly through copyright laws. Companies that treat their customers unfairly will lose their customers. Because companies turn a profit doesn't mean they are cheating their customers, it means they are doing the best job of serving them.  

Where there's a Linux, there's a way

Linux is an operating system that came out of no where and replaced a void in the market, a void only programming wizards knew about. The operating systems of the day were supposed to solve users needs with ease. It wasn't enough for these wizards. When the nature of programming is creation and customization, platform conforming is not what gets a developer excited. What he or she creates is the unexpected. You can't tell a good programmer "that's dumb," or he'll do it, and do it well. Linux is a polished collection of programmer's coordinated efforts. Now, Independent developers and companies through out the world use Linux for their projects. It will continue to be one of the most used operating systems because of it's flexible nature and endless open-source support.

Cyber Attacks are Viral

We have to take cyber attacks seriously for our safety. With any new computer technology that creates new doors for users, there also comes the ability for enemies to pick the locks of those doors. "The Cuckoo's Egg" reveals one of the first major cyber attacks. It was 1986. Because hacking was early in the life of computers and networks, many people, including the FBI, did not realize the abilities hackers had at taking crippling advantage of them. Clifford Stoll understood the danger a hacker was posing on his school network. He used every bit of energy he had to track down and capture the spy that was invading. He borrowed terminals to check every phone line, slept under his desk at night, and even wrote down every keystroke the spy was making. Clifford is a great example for how we can prevent our own cyber attacks. Whether we know very little or a lot about computers and networks, we must take very seriously any attack made on us through our cyber security. If someone has access to our computer, they can have access to much of our life through email, Facebook, and any other records stored on our computer. The most respected companies and the most powerful country in the world are currently becoming immobilized by hackers. The well known and respected Sony Computer Entertainment company had a major cyber attack that paralyzed their company for more then a month. Sony's online service that users were paying for was gone and their personal account information was possibly stolen for thousands of individuals. According to CNN this month, Major FBI websites are being hacked by a group called Anonymous. This directly effects the safety of all Americans. We have to treat these and future cyber attacks as a serious incursion of our safety.

Google is OK at the game of Acquire

Good news and strategy for Google. The Justice Department just allowed Google to buy Motorola Mobility with no strings attached. This allows them to acquire many new patents to help in building new products. Very often large companies like Google will have to fight for acquiring a company because it lessens the competition. In this case Google isn't winning in the game of Monopoly, but is in the game of Acquire. With Mobility's hefty patent portfolio, Google is free to expand and compete in new markets. It will be exciting to see what Google does next with their Midas touch.

The Next Printing Press

The personal computer is revolutionary for family history work. Like the printing press, the computer has transformed documentation by making it easier to store and duplicate records. Elder Russell M. Nelson tells of its current widespread use and our future work to bring us closer to our ancestors.  This is similar to how the printing press brought the bible and Book of Mormon to so many early saints that joined the church. These technologies have brought families closer together through record keeping for centuries now. Now is the time to take advantage of saving family records on personal computers.