Articles by mgedwards

Will the library become obsolete?

Google (of which I own shares) announced today that it will make available online the book collections of five major universities and library systems.  The institutions are Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, Oxford University, and the New York Public Library system.  All I can say is, “Wow!”  If they can pull it off that would be a major coup for the upstart technology company.  In recent months following Google’s IPO it has faced a number of challenges from its two largest competitors, Yahoo and Microsoft (MSN).  It has met these challenges well so far.  When MSN announced its new beta search engine, Google announced that it had doubled the number of indexed, searchable web pages on Google.com–twice as many as are available on MSN.  It was the first to release a new Desktop Search Tool ahead of Yahoo and MSN, both of which recently release versions of their own.  Google is taking on Yahoo and Hotmail/MSN head on by offering Gmail, a free E-mail service.  When Google announced it was giving away free 1GB E-mail accounts, both Yahoo and MSN upped storage capacity for all users.  Google is the only one of the three to allow free POP access to E-mail through clients such as Outlook.  Accoona.com is a new Google copycat search engine backed by President Clinton, among others.  It will be the exclusive provider of China Daily content online.  Today’s announcement is akin to Google responding with, “So what?”

Anyway, I digress.  Google’s recent announcement of Google Scholar and the new library initiative may foreshadow its rise to rareified air.  If it can successfully make these collections available online, Google will no doubt be the elite search tool for the next decade.  It will probably not render physical libraries obsolete, but it may do to library usage what E-mail did to snail mail–decrease the volume of usage.  I hope this initiative is successful.  It will substantially increase the value of the World Wide Web by having offline and out-of-print resources available online.  This could be the start of a new paradigm shift.  For years people have wonder when, if ever, books in print would be replaced by digital e-books.  This could provide an inkling of that potential future.

Today when I came home I again saw a murder of crows hovering around our building.  It was a scene out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.  The sky was dim, well past sunset.  The trees are skeletal, and the landscape was quite murky.  The crows flew about so that they were nearly indistinguishable from bats.  Tonight would have been a perfect setting for Halloween.

I also put together an English-Korean song put to the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas.”  Once I’m finished I’ll post it here.

Computer trouble

Have you ever had problems with your computer?  I’m sure you have had some at some point.  Trouble with viruses?  The possibility of picking of a virus, worm, or spybot has increased exponentially over the past few years.  My computer is now having trouble again.  It started last week when I was moving some photo files.  My computer has been sluggish for quiet some time, but now Windows itself appears to have a problem.  I can’t open Windows Explorer or any of the Windows management programs.  It could be a virus, but more likely Windows is now corrupted.  My solution is to rebuilding my computer.  I’ve decided that my 30GB hard drive is no longer big enough, and I’m going to install a new 160GB master hard drive.  I need as much space as I can get for video editing.  Each DVD-quality 30-minute video file can run as much as 25-30GB.  If I upgrade the hard drive, reinstall Windows, add more RAM (1GB+) and buy a more powerful power supply that should do the trick (I hope).  I never know, though.  My computer has never run right.  I’m tempted to go buy a Dell or another off-the-shelf computer, but I’m already invested in this home-built unit.  Maybe in 5 years I’ll order a Dell.

The problem with rebuilding the hard drive and reinstalling Windows is that you have to reinstall every program you have on your computer.  I have many programs installed.  I plan to catalog each one, including installation instructions, before rebuilding.  That way I know I didn’t miss anything crucial.  I also invested in a backup unit from Maxtor (the OneTouch II) to do seamless backups.  That way I won’t lose any files.

I also want to make sure that I am not hacked and do not pick up any viruses or other nasties.  That’s why I recommend the following security precautions at home:

  1. If you run Windows XP, make sure you have installed Microsoft‘s service pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP.  It includes many important new security management features.  If your computer automatically runs Microsoft updates then it should have already been installed on your computer.
  2. Invest in a good anti-virus program such as Norton or McAfee.  Set these to auto-update or do an update at least once a week.
  3. Scan your hard drive for viruses and worms once a week.  Most anti-virus programs offer this feature.
  4. Use strong passwords when logging in.  The easiest way to hack a computer is a weak or non-existent password.
  5. Invest in an anti-spyware program.  Ad-Aware by Lavasoft is a great free tool for eliminating spyware.
  6. Secure your home network.  If you have a home network and use Linksys or another router, be sure to set up a strong WEP key to secure your network from outside access.  Consult the router manufacturer’s instructions on setting up a security home network.
  7. Use a strong firewall program.  Zone Alarm is a great free firewall program.  Unfortunately, at the time Microsoft released SP2 it appeared to conflict with Zone Alarm because both provide firewall features.  Zone Alarm is much stronger.
  8. Make sure that your E-mail program is able to scan and isolate attachments before they execute.  For example, Yahoo.com scans attachments before download, and Outlook will isolate suspected files.  If you receive an attachment from an unknown person, it’s safest not to open the E-mail.  If an E-mail asks for personal information such as a credit card number do not click through to the web site and enter it.
  9. Power down your computer frequently if you have a broadband connection.  Shutting off your computer is a good defense against receiving unwanted viruses or hackers.
  10. Secure personal information.  Invest in a vault program such as Cryptainer with strong encryption will better secure your personal information.

It’s no guarantee that you’ll be problem-free, but if you do these steps your computer(s) will be much more secure against hackers and viruses.

The Christmas Dilemma

I never know what to buy people for Christmas.  It’s just two weeks until Christmas, and I still don’t know what to buy for a couple of family members.  Sure, I could always get them a gift card from their favorite store, but what’s the fun in that?  Sometimes it’s easy enough to figure what to buy people.  However, sometimes I can’t figure out what they need or want at a reasonable price.  How many small ticket items do people need?  Can’t I just buy them one really expensive gift and let that be their for the next six Christmases?

Christmas may be losing its meaning amidst all the commercialism.  The frantic search for the perfect gift, the muddling through the crowds at the mall, or the quick online purchase definitely do not define the meaning of Christmas.  Christmas has become overly materialistic and sanitized.  It has been adopted as a national holiday and is observed by people throughout the world who are not Christian.  The focus of Christmas has increasingly shifted towards Santa and what gifts he’ll bring, about families reuniting, about expressing love through a purchased product, and goodwill towards men.  While these are good and noble endeavors, they overshadow Christmas’ true meaning.  Christmas is a birthday celebration for Jesus, a carpenter from the Galilee region born about 4 B.C.  It’s been said that his actual birthday would have been in April based on the timing Roman Census that required his parents to journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem prior to his birth.  That would mean Jesus’ actual birthday would be sometime around Easter.  If Christmas is replaced by Xmas or Winter Break or Happy Holiday then perhaps the observance of Jesus’ birthday should be moved to a day closer to the actual day of his birth.  This would reassert the meaning of the holiday without all the commercialistic trappings of Christmas.  The date of Christmas has much to do with the ancient Druid celebration of Winter Solstice.  Moving the date celebrating Jesus’ birth would put it more in line with celebrating it on the actual date of his birth.