PC ProSchools – TechTalk

Google has announced that they will be launching a new project in one or several communities in trial locations across the country and I am proud to say that my city (Anderson, IN) is one that is fighting for this opportunity.  Google is planning an experiment that they hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone.  They will be testing ultra-high speed broadband networks that will deliver speeds of more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to at the moment.  They are working on creating over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections and hoping to offer this at a competitive price.

Google has asked interested cities to provide information through formal request, which they will use to determine where to build the network.  In interested communities, they will assess local factors, such as, community support, local resources, weather conditions, approved construction methods, and current broadband availability and speeds available to users in that community.  Google’s expectations are that ultra high speed bandwidth will drive more innovation in high definition video, remote data storage, and real-time multimedia collaboration.

The City of Anderson has really stepped up the fight for this opportunity through websites, advertisements, billboards, Facebook, and Twitter.

Editors note: Since PC ProSchools has campuses in Indianapolis and Grand Rapids it only seems fair to link to their sites encouraging Google to pick them.

Indianapolis

Grand Rapids

Today, March 8^th, is the 101^st International Women’s Day so I figured I would write about some women who significantly contributed to IT. It is no secret that women are under represented in the IT industry but that hasn’t lessened their impact.

Ada Lovelace,  or more properly, Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852) is considered to be the first programmer.She wrote programs for a computer that hadn’t been built yet, but were based on Charles Babbage’s plans for the Analytical engine.

Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) was influence in the field of computer programming. She developed the first complier and came up with the concepts behind the programming language COBOL. .She also popularized the use of bug referring to computer programming glitches by explaining the time an associated working on the Harvard Mark II computer discovered a moth inside the machine and noted in the log that this may be the first time an actual bug impeded computer operations. She also coined the phrase “It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission”. In 1996 the Navy named the destroyer USS Hopper after her, how many ships has the US Navy named after you?

Maria Azua currently the VP of Technology and Innovation at IBM was inducted into the WITI (Women in Technology International)Hall of fame in 2006. She is a prolific inventor with 48 patents and 41 pending, these patents are in area such as telecommunications, web servers and data manipulation. She provides leadership though a variety of organizations and a role model for anyone interested in IT.

These are only three of the many women that have contributed and continue to contribute to our industry.

Browser Toolbars are add-ons or plug-ins that extend the functionality of your browser. Two of the most popular toolbars are The Google Toolbar and The Yahoo! Toolbar. These toolbars provide shortcuts to your bookmarks, searching and more. While providing helpful functionality, toolbars can cause problems with websites or slow your browser down.

Toolbars alter the functioning of your browser. This can prevent a web application, an application that runs inside your browser, from working properly. You may experience problems with printing a page or saving information that you entered into a form. At PC ProSchools when students have Browser Toolbars installed, we have issues with our web applications. For example, Mediasite (our video gallery application) fails to record when students watch our videos. This can affect a student’s grade because our instructors can’t verify that a student watched it and give them credit for it.

What can you do? You can disable the toolbars through your browser. If the problem continues or you can’t disable the toolbar, you have to uninstall the toolbar from your computer. What if you want or need to keep the toolbar? Your only solution is to install an additional browser like Google Chrome without any add-ons and use it for all web applications.