Week 14 - Clear

This week's topic was about "Enterprise Computing". It included a discussion of Advanced Storage, Enterprise Storage, Virtualization, and Thin Client Computing, all of which I found really interesting. In the last topic, thin client computing, the lecture started with an explanation of a thick client, which I found very interesting as this is basically the opposite of the thin client and I have never heard this expression before. When I researched about thick clients, I found some information that they are actually increasingly used in the business environment. But let me first explain what a thick client is:

A thick client is also known as a fat client or rich client. It is a "a computer in a client server configuration that can function independent of the server". This stands in contrast to the thin client, which heavily depends on the server's applications and has to access the server anytime it wants to process or validate input data. What I now found very interesting is, that after the lecture, I thought that thin clients would be the best thing for an organization to use. However, on the two resources I cite below, it seems as if thick clients provide many potential advantages that can also be quite beneficial for companies.

1. Independence -> Probably the biggest advantage of thick clients over thin ones is that they can operate independently from the central server. Hence, as the thick client is performing a lot of tasks itself and consequently reduces the processing requirements of a central server, an organization may only need to buy a cheaper central server with less capacity.
2. Speed -> Furthermore, a thick client works faster than a thin one, since it is running applications and the like on the individual computer and hence is not influenced by other users processing data at the same time on the centralized server.
3. Offline working -> Since the applications and the like are stored on each thick client, it is possible to work and process data without being connected to the central server at all times.
4. More flexibility
5. Ability to utilize existing infrastructure -> Many people nowadays already have fast local computers, so they can be used as thick clients at no extra costs.

Thick clients have many other additional advantages, that I do not list here, as I think that these are the most important ones to be mentioned. However, because of these advantages over thin clients, fat clients are being used increasingly in today's business environment. Just think about the concept of a corporate laptop. They can be disconnected from the centralized server, you can take them anywhere you want to, and you can still perform your work (assuming that you downloaded all necessary information from the centralized server BEFORE you disconnect your corporate-laptop-thick-client).

I consider this an important topic for today's business environment, as all companies nowadays have to run large servers to store data in order to successfully compete in their industries. They have to thoroughly understand the advantages and disadvantages of having a centralized server and the access methods of it. Also they have to understand what kind of clients they want their employees to use: a thick or a thin client, as this can have tremendous effects on costs, speed, reliability of the whole system and the like.

Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-fat-client.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_client

Project - Secure Email

The Secure-Email Project I did this week, was a very interesting one for me, as I was not aware of the fact that sending secured e-mails would be so easy!

I found an interesting article, which was published on March 26, 2010 on www.infolawgroup.com. It deals with the current lawsuits against "Dave & Buster's", which is a restaurant chain, concerning the theft of important customer data, which resulted in large financial damage for consumers. The article describes the data security breach that dates back to the time span from April 30 to August 28, 2007, where hackers exploited vulnerabilities in the restaurant chain's system, installed unauthorized software on its system, and got access to about 130,000 credit and debit card information. Dave & Buster's collected several highly important and sensitive information from its customers, amongst which were "credit card account number, expiration date, and an electronic security code for payment card authorization". This data has been collected and stored on the in-store servers of the restaurants and was then send to a third-party credit card processing company. Hence, a lot of communication and shifting of customer information happened there. As came out later, these communications of data and information was not secured at all:

No limitation of IP addresses that can have access to the restaurants' servers, no network security at all, no authorization identification was requested for seeing and sending sensible information, no firewalls or separation of the payment card system from the rest of the company's network, and so on.

Dave & Buster's even failed to apply readily available security means, like requiring a user password before being able to get access to a wireless network, which the majority of home users today applies. Consequently, it was almost an invitation for the hackers to access Dave & Buster's system and steal customer information from its servers. Currently, the FTC required Dave and Buster's to "establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program and obtain independent audits by a qualified person", for example, a CISSP, which is a Certified Information System Security Professional. Hence, amongst other things, the restaurant chain is required to: designate an employee to oversee and coordinate the information system security; conduct risk assessments and identify possible threats to data security; apply certain means to guarantee the security of customer data; guarantee the security of customer data also in the communication and collaboration with a third-party service provider; regularly test and measure the effectiveness and update the security system.

As this article shows, data security is a highly important and sensitive topic in today's world. However, when a company even fails at the very basic data security level, like controlling the access to its wireless network, by requesting a password or the like, it is very doubtful that this company can get a step further and implement secure communication methods, like secure e-mail or the like. Consequently, preventing unauthorized access to your network and then securing the ways you communicate highly sensitive information of customers, should be a basic for conducting business in today's world.

Source: http://www.infolawgroup.com/2010/03/articles/ftc-consent-decrees-1/dave-busters-busted-another-allleged-failure-to-implement-reasonable-security/

Week 13 - Clear

The content of this week was about Computer Security, Ethics, and Privacy. The concept I found particularly interesting this week was that about biometric devices used for identification authentication. The concept simply means that a computer system stores certain attributes of a person and translates it into a digital code. As an example imagine that a fingerprint of person A is being scanned into a computer and stored on its user database in form of a digital code. Then, in order to get access to certain information or buildings, or the like, the person presses her finger on a screen that reads her fingerprint, compares it to the digital code, then validates the identity of the person and consequently gives access to the requested things. Currently, such a method is planned to also be used for payments, travel-purposes and so on.

On June 17, 2008, supermarket giant Albert Heijn (Netherlands) introduced a payment system linked to the customers' fingerprints, debit card information, as well as their loyalty cards. However, only weeks after its initial introduction, the fingerprint system has been cracked by a security researcher, who crafted a copy of a fingerprint out of rubber, which was accepted by the authentication devices Albert Heijn used. The retailer first did not react on this detection but rather remained positive about a full rollout of the fingerprint-as-payment program. Nevertheless, after a renewed analysis of this concept, the devices, and customer feedback, Albert Heijn discovered that this program would not be worth pursuing as its customers were too concerned about the security of their data.

Recently however, the German retailer Rewe announced a pilot test of some of its stores in and around Cologne for the cash- and cardless payment method with a fingerprint as personal identification. There is a positive example of a more secure fingerprint technology used by the German retailer Edeka that already implemented and currently also uses fingerprints as payment methods in some of its stores in southern Germany. Edeka uses machines that detect blood circulation and hence, is said to be able to differ between a fake and a real fingerprint. In spite of this claim by Edeka and the collaborating biometric firm, there is a large debate about the accuracy and security of this system.

I deem biometric devices as proof of identification a highly interesting and important topic, as in our world today, more and more transactions are being made over the Internet, credit cards and so on, and hence many more opportunities have been opened up to criminals to betray, steal, and rob people. In our digitalized world, it is of utmost importance to provide the highest security as is possible to reduce the amount of fraud, robbery and protect people from identification theft and the like. So, though these systems with fingerprints as identification means might sound great at the beginning, also with this technology it is easy for criminals to conduct their evil works.

Sources:

http://www.paymentsnews.com/2008/06/fingertip-payme.html, http://www.techworld.com.au/article/251568/researcher_cracks_fingerprint_payment_system,http://www.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/life/news/article_1531028.php/German-grocery-stores-experiment-with-payment-by-fingerprint

Week 12 - Clear

This week's content dealt with Information System Development. Within this topic, Change Management has been discussed, which I encountered in one of my prior courses "Management of Information Systems" at my home university "Maastricht University" already. I think this is a very interesting as well as highly important concept.

Change Management describes a process to coordinate and control the transitions of individuals, teams, and organizations from a current to a desired future state. You can look at it from two different points of view: on the one hand, there are the people, who implement the change, namely the managers. Their task is to effectively communicate the intent and necessity of the planned change and ensure, that processes, users and the organization in general, understands and implements the needed changes. On the other hand, there are the individuals, who receive the change and have to implement it and work with the changed processes, technologies, or the like. It is critical that they understand why the change is needed how it is being implemented, and in what way it affects their day-to-day operations.

The purpose of Change Management is to "have a systematic method of evaluating change requests, prioritizing, scheduling resources for implementation and the appropriate level of support".

I deem this concept as highly interesting and important in a world that is constantly changing and where technological advancements are being developed and applied in an incredibly high speed. Without effectively changing and adjusting to the rapid advancements in the business world today, companies risk loosing their competitive advantages in the sense that they become way less efficient than their competitors. Additionally, if the change is necessary to fulfill customer's needs and wants, they may loose any foothold in the market, which eventually results in the force to go out of business.

Sources: http://www.change-management.com/

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-change-management.htm

Week 11 - Clear

This week's topic dealt with databases and its management. Additionally we had to create a database on our own using Microsoft Access. In the chapter we had to prepare for this week, "data mining" was introduced. The book defines it as a "process to find patterns and relationships among data". I already encountered this concept several times in prior courses and think it is especially valuable, as well as important, to successfully compete in today's business environment.

Data mining is also known as "Knowledge-Discovery in Databases", since it employs algorithms to search large databases automatically to recognize patterns and connections among data points in these databases. These algorithms are based on statistical techniques and make it possible that we detect trends, relationships and the like, that we otherwise would not have detected, since the pool of data available to us is incredibly large and we could impossibly skim through all of it. Data mining is often utilized for a wide range of profiling practices, for example in marketing, where this process is commonly used to identify customers' current purchasing behavior and trends.

I consider this process very important in today's business environment because data mining is a powerful tool to more accurately forecast future sales and enables companies to be more responsive to its customers. Consequently, they can build a competitive advantage in their industry with the potential to become a sustainable one, if companies learn to utilize the data mining techniques effectively to build relationships with their customers.

Sources: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-data-mining.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mining

Week 11 - Database Project

This week we had to create a database for a local gym with information about its members. This project was very value-adding to me since I learned the basic functions of Microsoft Access and how to individually create a database from scratch. Though I have never been in touch with this program, I now have the abilities to create tables; import and export data from different sources; perform different queries to display specific data I am interested in; create forms that conveniently show details about each member; and I can create reports, which display data according to different groups, sorted in a special way and the like. This makes me able to get the data I am interested in and view them in a way that is logical and structured to me. I am very sure that the knowledge I have acquired through this project will enhance my understanding of databases that are present in virtually every company today and make working with it easier for me in the future.

However, the steps I performed in this project were really basic. I think that this database needs to be a lot more comprehensive and more useful. MS Access offers the possibility to create relationships among different tables in the document, so that the maintenance would be even easier and consequently the validity of the data would be guaranteed. This would be important if the owner was to include the monthly membership fees in his database, to oversee the Members' IDs and who paid for them or who did not. This information could refer to another table that lists the Members' ID, as well as their addresses, so that the outstanding bills-reminder could then be sent to them. As I am really no expert in MS Access (yet), I can only vaguely suggest that there are many other improvements that could be made to this database, however, due to my limited knowledge I can not think of any other ones now.

Week 10 - Clear

This week's topic dealt with "Communication & Networks", which was especially interesting to me as I am a regular and convinced user of Skype. I am traveling a lot and during my 6 months stay in Australia it was unbelievable how complicated and expensive it was to call my family and friends back home. However, as soon as I returned to Germany (what a great timing...), I heard about this "Voice over IP" technology utilized by this program called "Skype". I downloaded Skype, started to use it, and I cannot imagine living without it anymore, to be honest. I used it during my studies in the Netherlands to stay in touch with my family and friends at home, to call my cousin, who lives in HongKong, and of course I frequently use it from the US to talk with my friends and relatives. And I can do this for free, if the persons I want to call have Skype and are online. If they also have a camera and a microphone, which are features of nearly every new computer or laptop, I can even see them when I call, because Skype also supports videoconferencing, which is really great. Additionally, I can also call landlines or mobile phones for very low costs using Skype, too. Another feature of Skype is, that I could request a Skype number, which is basically a regular landline number which friends etc. could call from their regular phones and then they would be connected to my computer or a mobile device, that is online at Skype. This is called "SkypeIn". All in all, Skype is a really great program, and as my grandma recently told me, it is way clearer than many other landline-phones and mobile devices.

As one can see, I know how to handle this program as I use it daily, and I am hence aware of the multiple advantages it provides. However, I researched a bit further because I was interested to find out, who actually invented Skype. As I found out, in 2003, it was developed in Europe, specifically in Luxembourg, by two Scandinavians: Niklas Zennström (Swedish) and Janus Friis (Danish). The name for the software program is derived from "Sky peer-to-peer", which was then abbreviated to "Skyper", but since no domain name with "Skyper" was available anymore, they dropped the last "r" and left was the name "Skype".

What was also interesting for me to know is how it is possible that this program can charge these really low prices (i.e. I call a regular landline in Germany for 1.7 Euro Cents). This happens, because the operators of Skype incur very low costs by operating on a peer-to-peer model instead of a usual client server model, which means that there is no centralized server but instead the user directories are stored on each user's computer.

All the features and benefits I listed above, make Skype a very important program for today's business world. I even had my final interview for my internship this summer over Skype and it would have not only been way more complicated to have this interview with only a regular landline, but also it would have been way more expensive. Thus, especially in this international business environment of the present, Skype provides significant cost saving opportunities and in my opinion it could also enhance understanding when communicating with business partners, as they can actually see you when talking, you can show them products or graphs or other things that may be important to your sale and so on.

Sources: http://about.skype.com/

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/allfeatures/onlinenumber/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

Excel Project

The intent of this MS Excel project was to familiarize each student with the basic, as well as some advanced, functions and the set-up of this application program. It did not only make me understand how to use MS Excel functions to perform calculations, but also showed me how I am able to display data more efficiently and effectively so that it is easier to understand (i.e. by the usage of Pivot Tables, a concept I was familiar with already, but which is a great tool that I needed several times in my life as a student already; hence, I know it will be very helpful to know how to apply this in my future job in the business environment). Moreover, I learned how to adjust several settings so that I can print the Excel worksheets, which I created, more efficiently. (This was always a problem for me at my home university since I was not aware of the fact that you actually have a lot of discretion in determining how to print out your Excel worksheets!)

All what I learned was brought to me by applying a scenario in which I am pretending to be a person working for a large fitness center, that demands certain analysis tasks from me to test the effectiveness of one particular training program. The data I was provided with contained information for 500 different persons and listed age, sex, and 21 heart measurements (from time 0:00 to 20:00, which consists of a 15 minute workout and a 5 minute cool-down phase). This raw data had to be processed to calculate a maximum heart rate, a target heart rate, as well as the highest heart rate achieved by any individual. These numbers then were taken to further determine whether the individuals reached their target heart rate and by what percentage their heart rates increased on average. Furthermore, I had to create two Pivot Tables, to determine how many individuals actually reached their target heart rates and how it was split between females and males. The second Pivot Table sorted the average percentage increase of the heart rate according to gender and age groups (this is displayed in the table below). ALl in all, this was a very interesting project and it showed me how to apply the concepts learned in the lectures.

Week 9 - Clear

This week's content dealt with Microsoft Excel and how to use it. I thought this was a very value-adding activity to have in a course. However, as I am just an exchange student and I have to use MS Excel from the first day of my academic career on (which now dates back to 2007), I knew all the presented features of MS Excel that were presented in the lectures already. Regardless of this fact, I found a "refreshment" of my MS Excel skills a very nice thing to do.

A concept that I already used at my home university many times is that of the "Pivot Table". A Pivot Table is basically a tool that eases looking up data by making it possible to summarize desired information and then display it more clearly on a separate sheet (which is then the Pivot Table). Amongst other things, you can sort, total, and count the data in your "raw data" sheet. Its ability to simply drag and drop different data fields into the Pivot Table is what gave the Pivot Table its name. This tool is very helpful as you can extract the data relevant to you from a large set of raw data and see different relations more quickly (i.e. you could tell Excel to determine how many Females or Males respectively have bought a certain amount of a special product in the last year).

I think the concept of Pivot Tables is a very important one in today's business environment as the ability to create these tables will ease the interpretation of huge data sheets significantly.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivot_table

Week 7 - Clear

This week's topic was about "Operating Systems and Utility Programs". It was a very interesting one for me, as I as Mac user, got to know that I am even strongly discouraged to conduct disk defragmentation, as I did before with my PCs that used the Windows OS. However, disk defragmentation is a very helpful and even necessary activity every person using a Windows OS should conduct, in order to optimize the speed and utilization of the computer and its disk.

Disk Defragmentation

Every time, when we store anything - a program, a file, or whatever - on a Windows PC, or every time when we re-arrange something and put a file into another folder, programs being uninstalled, information is being added or deleted, gaps form on the disk. Files may even be split/fragmented to fit on the disk. Though the computer still knows, that the data is on the disk, it takes the PC a lot more time and power to find the separated parts of a file and put it together again to be able to display it to the user, who asked for that file. The question now is: what does a disk defragmentation program do? Here is a little example:

Just imagine a book shelf in your room. You put some books on it, next to each other, so that there are no gaps. Then, after a while, you remove a few (let's say 3) very small books from this shelf. These books are creating 3 small gaps in your row of books in your shelf. So, if you bought a new book, and you would like to put it into your bookshelf, and you see that it is too big to fit into the small 3 gaps that were created in your book shelf when you removed the other 3 smaller books, what do you do?

There the necessity for the disk defragmentation program becomes clear:

You need to re-arrange the books in the shelf, so that only one large gap remains, in which you can put your larger book. So you do not have to split your larger book into smaller parts, to fit it into your shelf, but you can just put it into the shelf as one whole book.

If you now substitute "book" with "file" and "book shelf" with "disk", you should see how disk defragmentation works. All in all, it makes you use your computer's disk more efficiently, what saves you and your PC time and power.

Now, as a Mac user, you are strongly discouraged to use any kind of disk fragmentation: Macintosh itself uses a system to optimize disk usage, so any kind of manual defragmentation activity would counter Apple's optimization efforts, which would definitely not result in better performance after the defragmentation.

So Apple users: keep your hands off of disk defragmentation programs!

Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-disk-defragmenter.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_defragmentation

Week 6 - Clear

The topic of weeks 5 and 6 furthermore included a description of different scanners. I thought the most interesting and important scanner method is the "RFID" technology. Increasingly, companies like American Apparel use this to improve their business processes, productivity and operations (the link on "American Apparel" is a very interesting video about how this clothing manufacturer utilizes RFID, I can just recommend to watch it! :) ).

RFID is the short form of "Radio Frequency IDentification". It describes a technology where small electronic information tags are being transmitted wirelessly between a "tag" and a "reader". The tags do not need any power, as those are passive devices, whereas the reader or scanner needs to be powered. It is a very easy to use but also more expensive technology (as compared to Bar Codes). However, it makes life a lot easier: One need not anymore directly point on the bar code (or in this case the tag), but only the approximate direction is enough.

This technology is a huge advancement! In the retailing sector it finds great application, as well as in shipping industries, even in credit cards (in 2006 major credit card companies started to put RFID tags into credit cards so you do not have to swipe them through any credit card reading device anymore) and also to automatically pay tolls on roads.

Sources:

http://www.ibmd.averydennison.com/solutions/american-apparel-rfid.asp

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-rfid-tag.htm

http://www.ibmd.averydennison.com/solutions/rfid.asp

Web 2.0 Tools Project - Update "Feedback"

In my opinion, this project was a very fun and value-adding activity to engage in. I enjoyed it a lot! I liked especially the fact that we were given a free choice about what we want to present about ourselves and that, through this project, I got in touch with so many different tools and applications that I have never used before (i.e. GarageBand, iPhoto). So I learned a lot during this project, too, what is going to be very helpful in my future since technology and the ability to use it is of utmost importance nowadays.

I used the tool "vuvox", which was awesome! I actually thought about doing another collage for my "Study Abroad Blog" that I am also writing so that my friends and family back home in Germany know, what I am doing and what they are missing here ;). This tool allows me to include music and pictures, cut the important parts out of these pictures, put different songs into my collage and many more things. The only problem I encountered was that somehow I was not able to include a video in my collage as always, when I loaded it up, the vuvox tool said "Media Encoding Error". I contacted the customer service team, but unfortunately I did not receive any answer or solution to this difficulty yet. However, I decided that the video is not the most important part as I could also tell my story with pictures.

What was especially value-adding about this project is not only the fact that I am now able to use some media-applications on my Mac better, but I also learned how to actually structure my work better and more efficiently, as well as how to adhere to the copyright laws discussed in the first week of this course. Consequently, I think that not only my awareness of copyrights increased a lot through the actual application of the learned laws, but I also significantly improved my ability to use new software and plan my time, which are important capabilities for my future life in the business environment.

So, it would be so great if you could watch my collage that I am so excited about and give me as much feedback as possible - not only through comments underneath my vuvox collage, but also through the poll that is located on the right side of the Web 2.0 Interaction Method page. Furthermore, to guarantee better visibility and readability, I recommend to enlarge the screen of the tool (there is a "fullscreen" button on the bottom bar of the tool) or to go directly to the Web 2.0 Tool Story page and watch the enlarged version there.

Enjoy watching it and I hope I can encourage you to not only travel to the places that I show you on my collage but also to use this awesome vuvox tool for any future projects!

Valerie Wagner

P.S.: Do not forget to comment and evaluate my story ;)! Thank you a lot!!!

Update: Feedback

Unfortunately, I did not receive as much feedback as I hoped to receive for my project. After all, I have to attribute it to my late submission of the link to my story, I guess. However, the one comment I got (thank you Alexander ;) ) was very positive, though I have to admit, that it was mainly due to this excellent tool, that my collage looks like it does. My online poll was also not really participated in, as I suspect a score of 100% "Loved it!!! 8-)" out of two (!) evaluators, is not really a reliable indicator for how people actually liked my collage.

Regardless of these facts, it was such a lot of fun to do this collage and I am proud of my work, so I could not wait to show it to family members, friends and publish it on my personal blog, which I created for my study abroad here in the US. All people, who actually saw this collage were really enthused about my project (I hope, they were not subjectively but rather objectively evaluating my project ;) ). So after all, I had a lot of fun, and even when nobody of this course actually looked at my collage (except for Alexander ;) ) I enjoyed it a lot!

Take care,

Valerie Wagner

Links:

Web 2.0 Tool Story

Web 2.0 Interaction Method

Web 2.0 Interaction Method

Week 5 - Clear

The topic that seemed most interesting to me this week deals with the processor "Intel Core 2 Duo". I am actually about to buy me a new MacBookPro, so this week's topic came at the perfect time for me! As I want to have a MacBook that perfectly fits my needs (and I guess even more my wants, so I am more or less not properly following the buying advice as proposed by Mr. Olson), it is very important to me to actually be able to evaluate just by myself which computer qualifies best. However, I always thought that you only compare the processor of your computer with the Gigahertz number stated behind (or better included in) the name of the processor. Now I know better:

Gigahertz

Gigahertz (GHz) is basically a description of the clockspeed of a computer, which means that the faster the computer's central processing unit's (CPU's) clock can tick per second, the faster the computer can process data. GHz is composed of "Hertz", which describes

the frequency, and "Giga" stands for "billion". Thus 1 GHz equals 1 billion cycles or ticks per second. However, in order to compare the capabilities of different processors, it is not possible to only look at the GHz information. Instead, one must first watch whether the processor uses the same CPU type!

Processor

A processor of a computer is basically what facilitates executing instructions and thus using programs. Nowadays, mostly multi-core processors are being used, which means that there is one chip with two or even more separate CPUs and thus more work can be done by the computer in a shorter timeframe.

The one Apple currently builds into its new MacBooks is the above mentioned "Intel Core 2 Duo" processor. So in order for me to decide which kind of MacBookPro I would like to have, I chose the one with the "Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz" as this is the processor, which certainly satisfies and already somewhat exceeds my need to be able to handle several programs at the same time, play music, store a lot of data etc. Again, it is such a great timing, that I now actually understand how to actually compare these processors (as I was focused only on design, weight and size of the computer before). So, I deemed this topic to be a very important and also very interesting one that all people of this technology generation should be aware of!

Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ghz.htm

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-clock-speed.htm

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-dual-core-processor.htm

Week 4 - Clear

This week's topic included "Application Software" and "Multimedia". I love listening to music as this is simply making my day a lot better. Thus I have loads of MP3s on my computer that I can choose from. However, I can still remember the times, when I sat in front of our radio, waiting for the right song to then tape it and have it on my own cassette to be able to play it whenever I want to. Today, I simply go to the iTunes store on the Internet, choose the music I heard in the radio or somewhere else, click on it, purchase and download it and then finally, I have it on my MacBook and can listen to it whenever and wherever I want to. This technology of MP3 is amazing and thus I think it is worth being talked about a bit more.

MP3 stands for "MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3". "MPEG" is simply short for the "Motion Pictures Expert Group", which is a group of people from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Their mission is to "create and publish standards for various areas of technology", where MPEG specifically refers to "standards in audio and video formats used online, in TV broadcasts and DVD media". MP3 is an audio file format that has been compressed and can hence be distributed in smaller-sized files. These MP3 files can be up to 90% smaller than the original files. However, one has to be careful, to not compress the original audio file too much, as this technique is a lossy compression method. It is taking advantage of the "auditory masking" effect, which means that the human hearing system cannot hear certain tones, when other sounds share the same frequency (for example: Think about a jet flying lowly over your head - Can you still hear what the person in front of you is saying?). So, getting rid of these tones that the human ear cannot hear anyways, is the compression method applied by converting audio files into MP3-format. In this sense, for our human hearing system, the MP3 format is lossless, however, if you see it from a technological point of view, it implies loss of certain tones of

your audio file. Consequently, MP3 format is referred to as a lossy compression method. MP3 usually is recorded at very low rates of around 256 kilobits per second, which is about 1/6 of the normal compact disc format using 1.4 megabits per second. This suggests, that MP3 audio files are not only saving a lot of storage space on your computer, iPod and so on, but they are consequently also faster to download, distribute etc.

In conclusion, I think that MP3 format made the life for music-lovers so convenient and comfortable that it is definitely one of the best inventions of the last decades.

Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-mp3.htm

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-mpeg.htm