Top Hacker Shows Us How It’s Done

I just finished watching a Ted Talk for the second time. His name is Pablos Holman, and he is a successful hacker. The presentation was very informative, entertaining, funny, and kind of scary. He also had a message at the end that took me, and probably everyone else there by surprise.

His topic was about hacking, and he got right into his demonstrations, showing how hackers can get into seemingly anything they want if they so choose. His demonstration started out by showing how he could hack into his hotel room television through the remote control sensor. From that point, he was able to order movies, play games, etc.. at no charge. The scary part is how he was able to access the TVs of every other room, change their channels, monitor what the other rooms were doing. This type of demonstration continued for most of the presentation, with many other examples of everyday things that could be hacked.

Pablos had a very effective method of delivery, walking around the stage enough, but not too much. He used a laptop and a projector to provide a visual scope to what he was talking about. He used humor effectively, and asked a lot of questions, sometimes tying the two together (“Does anyone here ever use a credit card?”) The use of other props were effective and not overdone. He had a good flow, although seemed to be pressed for time. Overall it was a very good demonstration about hacking right up to the swerve.

The presentation led into a demonstration about how hackers pick apart things, codes, passwords, etc… to eventually gain the access they are looking for. He then put up a slide of a mosquito, and started talking about the malaria problem in Africa. It turns out that he, along with other hackers are part of a group that are tasked with solving the malaria problem in Africa and other places. The group is funded by the Gates foundation, and includes scientists from all different fields, and includes hackers. He explained that the mind of a hacker is able to look at a problem from a completely different perspective than most people. He then talked a little more about the group and the progress they were making in solving this problem.

Holding off on letting you know the actual topic until the very end was genius. By that point, the audience, including myself was very engaged with the hacking demonstrations. The message just came out of nowhere, but tied in perfectly with what he had been speaking about. I would highly recommend this to everyone. 

Examples of Social Media Usage

If you own, or run a business in this day and age, the use of social media is no longer an optional thing to do. It is becoming required business practice. The following are two examples of local businesses use of social media, or their lack of social media usage.

 

Rocket Baby Bakery is a small bakery located in Wauwatosa. They sell bread, desserts, and some lunch items. They have a large and extremely loyal following, in part due to their extensive use of social media. They use Facebook and Twitter very well, posting and tweeting several times during the day. Because the menu items are different every day, they will often tweet out when certain favorite items are available. This small local bakery has almost 3200 Facebook followers, and over 1500 followers on Twitter.

Another local business is Glass Nickel Pizza. 

Glass Nickel is a pizza chain based in Madison, and has a location in Elm Grove. They sell pizza, sandwiches, salads, etc... Their social media plan is very outdated, what exists of it. The primary use of electronic media is their website and broadcast e-mails. They have a Facebook page, but it is almost never used, and they have 169 followers. While sending out email is something, the use of Twitter and expanding their use of other platforms would benefit them.

A good social media plan can be a very effective means of marketing your products locally, contacting your customers directly every day, or several times a day, in some cases. It is also a very cost effective means of marketing. The cost itself is almost nothing, just time spent keeping everything updated on a regular basis.

Why I am at MATC

Who am I, and how did I get here?

My name is Tim Prince, recently turned 45, and just starting out on a Computer Support Specialist degree. I fall into the category of working 20 years at the same company (Quest Diagnostics), very content with my middle-management job in the Logistics/Transportation department, and having that job eliminated through no fault of my own. Call it downsizing, corporate restructuring, whatever you choose, but that moment comes quick and without warning. Because Quest has always been a great company to work for, I left with almost a year of severance pay. This allowed me to be in shock for a while, get my bearings, and figure out what comes next without the immediate financial pressure. This also allowed me to spend some quality time with my 3 children, which was very fun and rewarding.

Based on using and enjoying computers for about 35 years (yes, 35years), the decision of what to study was pretty easy once the decision was made to go back to school. I am part of the first generation of kids that knew what a PC was. The first computer in our classroom did not even have a monitor. It looked like a giant printer. 

As time has gone on, I have always had a love of using computers, building and upgrading them, etc… Having spent many years as an unofficial IT support person for friends and family, this is something that I would like to do as a career.