Friday, April 27, 2012

Film Post - The Social Network

The Social Network is a movie about the creation of Facebook - a heavily dramatized story about an in-house college campus connection service that became a full-fledged cultural phenomenon and a multi-billion dollar enterprise company. In the movie, Mark Zuckerberg is a savant Harvard student with socialization issues and lofty goals. Contacted by a pair of rich twin brothers to develop a website, conflict ensues when he builds an adaptation on their idea without their input and launches it with the aid of his friend Eduardo. The brothers move to sue, but the site has already taken off and they can do nothing to stop it or reclaim what they consider to be their IP. They reach a settlement (pennies in comparison to the value of the site) and Zuckerberg walks off as a rich genius.
This movie is useful to my project because it marks a point in history as the first mostly-fictional movie relating to computers and technology to get just about everything technically correct. Many hundreds of films both great and terrible have been produced in the same vein over the last fifty years with varying levels of stomach-churning technical inaccuracy. The Social Network breaks that trend with spot-on accuracy that would bore the hell out of mainstream audiences if the scene weren't disguised by moving progressive music, rapid scene cuts and enough technical language to fill a TI Calculator instruction booklet. I'm not hesitant to say that this is likely the first time this has happened, certainly on a scale as large as the audience this movie targeted and hit.
< Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake. Columbia Pictures, 2010. DVD.>

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Video #3 - Shaping The Future in Computer Science

"Shaping The Future in Computer Science." YouTube. YouTube, 01 Dec. 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3dR4n-197I

This video talks about how research into computer science improves and improves upon the methods used to research in all higher fields. Rapid and efficient processing of scientific data and increased ease of information access and sharing improve the speed at which scientific progress can move by magnitudes of speed, which is important to my project in a meta sort of way.

Video #2 - Fight Cambridge University, I Dare You

CambridgeUniversity. "Computer Science." YouTube. YouTube, 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7hV86PC4hc

This video, a promotional ad for Cambridge University's computer science program, shows how technology is a rapidly evolving field that is always in need of new players. Every university wants to be one that top companies like Google and Microsoft look to the best graduates to scrape from, and the quality of their ads and promotional materials reflect that.

Video #1 - Defining Quantum Computer

UNSW. "Defining Quantum Computing." YouTube. YouTube, 09 July 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. .


This video contains many useful explanations and details relating to quantum computing and processing, described by a woman who has a degree in the field and works with it every day. It's also recent and is on a YouTube channel belonging to an accredited university.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Source #1 - SwiftKey 3 Beta: The Best Android Keyboard I've Seen

Cabebe, Jaymar. "SwiftKey 3 Beta: The Best Android Keyboard I've Seen." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 06 Apr. 2012. Web. 09 Apr. 2012. .


This article is useful because it's an example of how computer science isn't just a corporate tool, but can be contributed to by private parties and anyone interested in it. Swiftkey is one of the many companies that was started by hobbyists and exploded in the mobile application space.


http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57410691-94/swiftkey-3-beta-the-best-android-keyboard-ive-seen/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

Source #2 - Intel SSD to Boost Windows 8 Boot, Wake times.

Crothers, Brooke. "Intel SSD to Boost Windows 8 Boot, Wake times." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 06 Apr. 2012. Web. 09 Apr. 2012. .


This article is useful because it's recent and describes how recently developed and improved technology will be made more useful in the near future with the release of the next iteration of Windows.


http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57410643-64/intel-ssd-to-boost-windows-8-boot-wake-times/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

Source #3 - Quantum Computer Built Inside a Diamond

"Quantum Computer Built Inside a Diamond." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 04 Apr. 2012. Web. 09 Apr. 2012. .


This article is a good choice because it represents the unusual and powerful solutions that can be found in the future of computer science. There's always room for innovation, improvement, invention and expansion and it can only get better.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120404161943.htm