A Geography game using Google Street View – Geogessr

Think you really know Geography?  Geoguessr is an online game that uses Google’s Street View.   With a small map in the corner of Google’s Street View, you pin where you think the Street View scene is.   You then submit your guess and the distance from the real location is measured.     It’s an excellent way to travel and view the world.

Give it a shot.  I just couldn’t bring myself to show one of the answers.  Visit GeoGuessr.

Hints

• License plates
• Signs?
• Traffic on Left or Right lane?
• Look at vehicles
• Flags?
• Mountain ranges?
• Trees?  Bushes
• Coastal?  Think of waterways, look at ships
• Winds? Look at the trees.
• Buildings (look at roofs)
• How are people dressed?

Highest score so far 9800 points….

You have to be versatile in Information Technology

Back in 2007 we published an article on ‘The Challenge of Teaching Information Technology‘.  Recently we were also asked to write and article for TricomTS’s blog The Right fIT (Their Corporate Website is here) on Educating Tomorrow’s IT Professional Today.

So why do I write these articles?  Because Information Technology is growing.   Boot camps are only or should be only for seasoned IT Professionals.  It takes time.  With technology growing, to educate a student and to transfer the amount of information from every resource available – it is not only challenging for the instructor, it is a challenge even to the best students.   IT Professionals cannot take four years to start a career, technology will change so much within a year and the curriculum (accredited) has to be dynamic and change as technology changes.  IT personnel wanting to move up the corporate ladder should go to college later in order to advance.   Many IT pros are specialized career field but a majority of them have to be versatile and their skills have to be diversified.

And with a global economy, IT Professionals have to be lean and they have to learn quicker than ever.

We recently were interviewed by ComputerWorld and provided our look at how the economy and how a global economy changes the way IT thinks, works and reacts to this.  So truly we offer all of this advice to those who want to become an IT professional.  Be ready for change…everyday.  In today’s world, employers do expect a lot out of young IT personnel.  Remember it is the best career in the world to those who have a heart and passion for the industry.

The article from ComputerWorld was picked up by several other magazines and webpages.
CIO Magazine
NetworkWorld Magazine(ARRA)
NetworkWorld Magazine(Leaner Lifestyle)
LinuxWorld Magazine

Information Technology isn’t baking a pie, it’s running a whole bakery.

One of my students who is an IT Manager for a government entity said young IT personnel (including herself when she was new in the industry) often think that information technology is as simple as baking a pie, when in reality they find they are running a whole bakery.

She found out she wasn’t just fixing computers, she was fixing networks, managing domains, working with dozens of proprietary software packages, managing access points, working with security, web pages, portable devices (laptops, netbooks, ipads) and a ton of other tasks.

Information Technology is a skill that takes years to learn.

Surprise visits are always good

I wrote a post called “I didn’t change them, they changed me”,  that gave kudos to Carleton Corley.   In fact, recently he came by and has been promoted to a level II Analyst.   During his visit, he was admiring my Microsoft hoodie and I took it off and tossed it to him.  He has grown so much in the past year servicing his personnel and constantly working with migrating software and hardware that he deserved it (not that it has superpowers).  I just hope all of the success stories (students) don’t admire my Microsoft apparel.

The next week I got a surprise visit from Molly Davis who stopped by on her way to work.

 You see, Molly is like a daughter to me.  She was treated like every other student and faced many challenges to get to where she is now.    Always working and going to school showed she had a desire to make it in today’s world.  Molly’s sense of humor and contagious smile always brings a smile to my face. In fact, our network admin, Dawn also saw Molly’s desire to succeed and helped her (just as she does all students) along they way.

Within a week, I got a call from Tasha Caldwell,  who informed me she is moving to a new job at a major hospital system after working for two years at a large government contractor.   Tasha being the mom of a teenager never gives up and continues to grow in information technology.

And who will ever forget when Kyle Stubblefield came by at Valentine’s Day to thank Dawn, Mike and myself.  So we became Kyle’s valentine for the day.

Eric Caneer, Jared Ledlow, Danny Carlo (with his new baby and significant other) all came by during the day in person to say hi and to share their success stories.  Neil Spector dropped in at night just to check on us and to talk with students.

Oddly enough, it didn’t end there.  I went to speak about internet security in Nashville and lo and behold, Billy Young shows up just to tell me about his new job (always moving up).   This day oddly became the day of Billys.  Billy Bellamy called later to announce a job opening at his organization.

And the week finished with Maggie stopping by to tell us about her travels.  Awesome.  Truly Awesome.

Although we give the students a well rounded education to become system admins,  their stories of learning advanced information technology  never fails to amaze me that they have become so analytical.

Oddly enough, as I explain these visits to Mike and Dawn (my c0-workers), I realize that as I’m looking at them, they too are former students.

Recently Dawn and I won a Shining Star award for our Learning Management System,  I realize how much Dawn has grown in IT.  In fact I was enthusiastically telling her about the award as she was writing PHP and script for the LMS.  Skills she developed on her own.

This post truly isn’t about me or our program.  It is about a desire to want more and to learn more.  It is about people.  People who changed their lives through their passion to learn.

As I said before, when I watch these challenges being overcome,  it changes me each and every time.   These students are truly another slice of my life that provides me with the motivation to keep doing what I do.

2013 Middle Tennessee Cyber Summit: Building Partnerships and Understanding the Threat

2013 Middle Tennessee Cyber Summit:

Building Partnerships and Understanding the Threat

 

Middle Tennessee Cyber Summit: Building Partnerships and Understanding the Threat will be held on the MTSU campus May 7 and 8. This event will address criminal, intelligence, disruptive, and information cyber threats and be of particular interest to city/state/federal governments, healthcare, education, transportation, financial, utilities, and business industries.

Presentations from U.S. Department of Homeland Security, TN Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service and private sector cyber security.

2013 Middle Tennessee Cyber Summit:   Building Partnerships and Understanding the Threat

 When: Tuesday, May 7 – Wednesday, May 8

Where: MTSU campus, Student Union Ballroom

Cost: $30 per attendee

Attendees: state/local/federal govt. agencies, utilities, private sector, education, healthcare, transportation, financial

Credits/Certifications: CEUs available

Middle Tennessee Cyber Summit: Building Partnerships and Understanding the Threat will be held on the MTSU campus May 7-8. This event will address criminal, intelligence, disruptive, and information cyber threats and is scheduled to include presentations from U.S. Department of Homeland Security, TN Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, and private sector cyber security organizations.

Tuesday, May 7

7:30 – 8:00       Registration and Networking

8:00 – 8:30       Welcome and Introduction

MTSU Representative

TN Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons and Assistant Commissioner David Purkey

8:30 – 9:15      Emerging Threats in Cyber Security

Speaker TBA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

 9:15 – 10:45     China, Cyber, and U.S. Energy: Who, What, Why, and What’s Next

Betsy Woudenberg, Chief Cyber Officer, Intelligence Arts

A discussion of China as our cyber adversary, using cyber attacks on U.S. and global energy companies to illustrate how the Communist Party’s domestic objectives drive its cyber espionage campaigns

 

10:45 – 11:30    Vendor tables and break

11:30 – 12:30    Lunch

12:30 – 1:15      Keynote

Scott Augenbaum, Supervisory Special Agent, Cyber Crime Squad, Federal Bureau of Investigation

1:15 – 2:30         TBA

Speaker TBA, Federal Bureau of Investigation

2:30 – 2:45         Break

2:45 – 4:30         Secret Service – Cyber Crime Investigations

Todd Hudson, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service

Wednesday, May 8

8:00 – 9:00           Social Engineering

Sese Bennett, Information Officer, State of Tennessee

 

9:00 – 10:00      SCADA

Speaker TBA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

10:00 – 11:15      Intrusion Case Studies

Steve Mallard, IT Director, Tennessee Technology Center at Shelbyville

11:15 – 11:30      Break (vendor tables close at 12)

11:30 – 12:30      Lunch

12:30 – 2:00        Keynote:SCADA for Spies

Betsy Woudenberg, Chief Cyber Officer, Intelligence Arts

An introduction to SCADA – the technology that automates critical infrastructure – and how adversaries can penetrate these systems using humans and technology

2:00 – 2:15           Break

2:15 – 4:30           Cloud/Mobility Security

Speaker TBA

Event Sponsored by:

 Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs

Forensic Institute for Research and Education

Middle Tennessee State University

MTSU Information Technology Division

Enterasys Inc.

Mandiant

Registration information:

Date: Tuesday, May 7 – Wednesday May 8

Location: MTSU New Student Union Building

Cost: $30 per attendee (No Federal funds are expended to cover any catering or food)

Attendees: state/local/federal government agencies, utilities, private sector, education, healthcare, transportation, and financial, and law enforcement

Credits/Certifications: CEUs available ($10 MTSU fee)

Register Here

For more information, please contact: Karen Austin at karen.austin@mtsu.edu or 615-494-7971

Teachable moments, from IT consumerization to the cloud

2012 Interview with Steve Mallard – TechTarget’s SearchCIO-Midmarket

The biggest thing is IT consumerization. It’s consuming the time and the challenge of learning in all areas of IT, because the IT professionals have to adapt. Those students who bring their devices expect full access to resources and technology throughout our institution. That’s happening in business. That technology keeps you moving, and it keeps you learning. Security and BYOD go hand in hand. Security on the Internet has become a challenge. Primarily, IT consumerization and security are the most challenging.

Can you give us an example of how a technology project created value for the center or for its students?
About three to four years ago, we were looking at industry as a whole, because of the economy and what was taking place. Of course, you know we had 10% unemployment rates. The IT sector went flat, or jobs actually fell and hiring wasn’t really taking off. You struggled to get those jobs for your students. We had to make our students élite. We put an open source [LMS] together that now offers over 3,000 different things on the inside, from videos and PowerPoints. When we put this LMS in place, we wanted to make sure the students had 24/7, 365-day access. It had to be accessible year-round.  Read more

- ShareThis

Surface Pro vs. iPad vs. Android

So we played with the Surface Pro and the iPad and measured each for productivity.   What did we find?

After using an iPad for a year and having the Surface Pro for just under a week, the Pro far out shines the iPad tablet and our Android we’ve had for two years; no comparison.  Why?  Here’s what we found.

With the Surface Pro 128 Gb,  you have a stylus, USB and every application that a laptop has.   The critics say the 128 Gb is wrong because you get less than you pay for.   Part of this is used by the OS.     Have you ever purchased a laptop?  The Pro can be used with every application you ever had and with the VGA adapter, you can hook it to a full size monitor ($39.99).   The USB can be hooked to a cheap USB hub ($1.99) and guess what?  External hard drives can be used for storage (and don’t forget you have an SD slot), flash drives, external DVDs, a full size keyboard and 127 other USB accessories including printers.   The same as Windows 7.   The speed is much faster and the reliability and new features are an excellent addition to this OS compared to Windows 7.  Why aren’t critics looking at that?  Another great mystery of American consumerization.  So there you go.  You can have a full desktop by laying your tablet on your desk and plugging in two things.   When you are ready to go, just disconnect and you have a tablet or with the keyboard, a laptop.   So the $900+ price tag is a bargain.

Also navigation is NOT hard.   All you have to do is remember corners…touch any corner and you have menus.  Is that really hard?  Nope.  Are we overlooking a great OS?  I truly think so.  Thanks Kenny for bring the Pro to school.  Mine’s on order.

The Surface Pro and what Microsoft is not telling you – it can replace your laptop and desktop.

For the IT Professionals – join it to a domain and use the policies you have to further control this device on your network.

You’ve started your IT career. Now what?

So you started your IT career and you landed in a help desk position.   What now?   We wrote an article,  ”It takes time in the trenches of help desk”   that tells you to do your time.   But what about those amazing salaries on Computerworld or over at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Occupational Handbook?   How do you get there?  It takes time, experience and skill.

In IT you have to do one of two things.   You can be a master at everything or you have to find a focus on one area.   In IT, you can attend school and get ready for an entry level position.   You can also become an expert in one area.   This is one of the most career killing things you can do.  Why?   I’ve seen programming languages come and go and I’ve seen technology change at the drop of a hat.

But where does your advanced education come from?   OJT (On the job training) and self-study.   Without the ability to grow, you’re job can become stagnant.   Attend seminars,  attend classes, go to college and experiment.   Most of all, network with others and watch and listen to others in the field.  Have an open mind and be prepared to continually grow in the field of IT.

Here’s our article on  “It takes time in the trenches of help desk” from  March 10, 2012

That’s right, you’ve earned your way through technical school or college only to land at a help desk job.   Take a second and look at the logic behind this. IT professionals over the years have landed at help desk and the successful ones deliver quality service to the end users.   IT Managers, Directors or CIOs just can’t put someone in their server room without adequate experience troubleshooting computers.  An understanding of the operations of your organization starts by being exposed to all of the software and inner workings of the company.     Can you land that job in the server room or as a network admin?  Sure.   Reality is that it is rare.    It takes time, trust and experience.

When surveyed, IT professionals have a deeper respect for that manager that has done their time at help desk.   Many professionals do their time in this role and elect it as a career.   If you do your time and continue your education by getting more certifications, going to seminars and electe to attend a higher educational institution, you can work your way up the IT ladder.

The stress of help desk is different than any other stress.    While you have to put on your happy face and deliver quality service to your clients, it all starts at this level.    The redundancy of calls,  end-users who are frequent callers and the general grind of problems coming at you that appears to never end causes this stress.

IT managers and upper management in this field take notice of the people who excel at customer service.   IT is a service based career and help desk is your starting point for your career.    Ironically problems in this field go up to the higher level IT professional and solutions have to be pushed down in order to keep everyone happy.

Being positive and upbeat while you do your time in the trenches will bring that recognition to you.   It also allows you to place this experience on a resume for future jobs and positions in your organization or with different companies.

After decades in this career, I can point out hundreds of students who kept this attitude and later in their careers became more successful in IT.   There seems to be a sense of entitlement going through the IT field.   See help desk as a starting point to move up.     What about an example of someone who worked their way up?

One such example is Eric Canneer.   Eric started his career in IT as level I help desk and performed well while keeping a positive outlook.   During his career he never stopped learning and later was hired by one of the world’s largest logistics company and now manages their wireless globally.    While Eric is one example, hundreds of more examples come to mind.    I’ve had students who 95% of the time start help desk and over a period of one or two years worked their way to higher level positions in some of the country’s Fortune 500 companies and in every type of business and industry you can think of.

Are you truly ever out of a help desk position?   No.   You may not have that grind of answering phones daily but you are trying to please the end user and the problems never go away.   With a society that thrives on technology, you have to accept that innovation and  new technology brings on new problems and headaches.

Handling the stress of help desk and continuing your career in IT-

• Accept the fact that you are in customer service regardless of your position
• Obtain higher level certifications
• Continue your education with a higher-ed institution
• Realize that the customer is venting at the situation and not you
• Help other IT personnel and work as a team
• Ignore any negative personnel who bring you down
• IT is in the top ten growing industries and the opportunities are greater than any other career
• Find ways after hours to relax and get away

Information Technology will continue to grow and positions will continually be added in this field.   Less than three years ago, we didn’t truly have mobile computing experts that took care of a field that is growing at an unprecedented rate.   Become an expert in several fields and prove yourself not only to your managers and company but prove yourself to to you.

Here’s a great comment from this original post.

“IT is a service based career” … “There seems to be a sense of entitlement going through the IT field.”

These are the two most important statements in the entire article. Too many of my IT coworkers look down on the users and don’t treat them respectfully, which in turn soils the reputation of IT people. We are not an elite field of nothing but Bletchley Park code breakers, even if we think we are, and even if the end users think we are just because we were able to reset a password or tell them how to setup an email signature.

Consider yourself a mechanic instead. Some of use are working at Jiffy Lube, doing oil changes and routine maintenance. Some of us are rebuilding engines at Pete’s Auto. Some of us are helping design new transmissions at TransConn Int’l. But that’s it, so get over yourself, get another cup of tea, and answer the phone politely.

I’d also add, “Acknowledge the fact that you don’t know everything about everything”.    Mike

Microsoft Virtual Academy – Free Microsoft Courses

Frequently Asked Questions about Microsoft’s Virtual Academy

• What is Microsoft Virtual Academy?
  It is an online portal for IT professionals that offers a vast amount of information about Microsoft products and technology.  Designed with whitepapers, videos and reference materials, MVA gives the modern IT professional materials on topics that are found in IT today.  The MVA program gives rewards for completing programs.  There is also a points and rating system.   You can track your point progress and you will see ratings as follows – Bronze (0-99), Silver (100-499), Gold (500-2,999), and Platinum (3,000+).
• Do the course count towards certifications?
  No.   But taking the courses familiarizes and helps the IT Professional understand current and evolving technologies.
• Do you receive a transcript that you can use professionally?
  Yes.   You can download your transcript at anytime.   Course completion does not take place until the assessments are complete.
  
• What is the value of Microsoft’s Virtual Academy?
  Not only do you learn some of Microsoft’s technology for free, you can use these type of courses for career advancement.
• Are the assessments easy?
  No.  Microsoft offers challenging questions and a curriculum designed to be informative and educational.   You can retake the assessments as many times as you want.   Remember, with online courses, taking assessments just until you pass does not add value to your education.   Study the material  take notes and take the assessments when you are ready.
• Are the courses really free?
  Yes.

Microsoft Virtual Academy

Unable to fetch available updates data – unexpected cURL error

When working with PHP and Moodle’s LMS, sometimes you have to dig for answers.  The error “Unable to fetch available updates data – unexpected cURL error” actually has a fix that is easy to implement.   Finding the solution was a challenge.

Moodle 2.4 updates using SSL and now you should place a certificate in the Moodledata folder.  Dawn was on this two weeks ago but the documentation was missing something.  (She can find anything on the web!)  Following up on what she had found, I found the solution here:

https://moodle.org/forum/discuss.php?d=218800

Here’s the answer:

“It needs the ca-bundle.crt available at http://curl.haxx.se/ca/cacert.pem – Just copy the contents into a text file and rename it to moodleorgca.crt and place this in the root of the moodledata directory.”   This is a comment found here MDL-36903 on Moodle.org.

cURL CA Certs (referenced in the link above)

Learn cloud computing with Rackspace’s CloudU

Ever wonder what cloud computing is?  Rackspace has an excellent program that you can take for free.   Cloud University offers ten detailed modules along with a exams for each module.    A final exam reviews each of the modules and with a score of 80% you can earn a certificate in cloud computing from Rackspace’s CloudU.   This detailed program is the work of Ben Kepes.   Ben is the curator of CloudU.    Through his arduous work, you can download a detailed curriculum, listen to webinars and take exams as many times as you need to in order to understand cloud computing.    In today’s  world of virtualization and cloud computing, Rackspace leads the pack by educating anyone who wants to learn about these exciting technologies.

After contacting Rackspace so that my students could benefit from the cloud university curriculum as a supplement.   I was met with open arms and personally talked with Greg Alfaro, Michael Ferranti and Ben Kepes either by phone or email.     Ben sent us this video as a statement.    (Thank you Ben!)

Confused about the cloud? Have no fear, CloudU is here. Whether you are simply searching for more information about cloud computing, or are looking to boost your resume with a formal certificate, Rackspace Cloud University, known as CloudU, is for you. CloudU is a vendor-neutral cloud computing curriculum designed by industry analyst Ben Kepes. It’s also completely free.

The extensive CloudU library and certificate program contain all that you need to learn how to take advantage of the biggest technology innovation since the Internet.     Boost Your Resume. Gain New Skills. Enroll in CloudU Today.

“CloudU is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn about Cloud Computing. As an instructor of information technology, the certificate provides a great learning tool for the planning, deployment and logistics behind cloud computing.”    ~ Ben Kepes

Over 500 tech links

Need resources for technical information?  Looking for the best technical blogs on the web?   Bookmarks4Techs has over 500 resources and is one of the largest resources on the web for technical blogs.    Check out the collection of Freeware along with the blogs and websites.