3/21/13

Today I had a going away party and went to J3media, here is my summery of the visit

J3 media is a business that does webpage creation and Graphic design. They mostly use open source webpage design software called Mura and Word press. They demonstrated how easy it was to create a web page by just plugging in different links or dragging and dropping pictures and headers. I saw some web pages they designed and business cards they had created.

3/20/13

Fast track is a tier 2 internet supplier who develops the infrastructure of fiber optics in the four corners. Fiber optics are very thin strands of glass that travel through cable, light can be pulsed through the cable in a pattern of 1s and 0s so that data can be transferred from one end to another. This light can be broken down into different colors in a spectrum and each color can be pulsed individually to create individual channels through a individual strand. Fiber optics travel at the speed of light but can decrease over time, one of the things I found the most interesting was that to make the light travel farther, very strong lights were pointed at the strand and the molecules of that light would speed up the light already passing through the strand. I got to splice a strand of fiber optic on my own.

I also went to a local business that supplied virtual computers and cloud service. They introduced my to the idea of a different type of operating system than Microsoft or Apple. Lynx, and the different variables of it are an open source free operating system that allows you to change and customize your interface, Currently Lynx is less restrictive to work than any other operating system.

3/19/13
Today I went around to three different businesses and wrote a summery of each

Rocky mountain chocolate factory makes chocolate candies and ships them. They use technology in many different ways, they use the same virtual servers as Stone Age, The used to use paper fileing systems but now they have scanned in all there documents so that they can look up a name or order number and be able to see that document instantly. Like Stone Age Skype and VoIP phones are used for long distance communication. They have a program that allows them to see though all the security cams in any of their stores. They also have a monitoring system that allows them to see exactly how many of every kind of chocolate they sell and how much money they make off of that particular product. This works for all the stores they own, including the ones in Japan and the middle east. They use software to monitor how many sales they are making at all of their stores and allows them to predict up to 3 days in advance how much they have to produce with their machines. All of their machines are also controlled by their network. My favorite part of their technology was their ability to see into any of their stores.

Seccuro provides IT, security, telecommunications and limitless Tec support to all of their customers. They also use Virtual computers to supply all of the companies that use their services. They have their own server room, but create and supply and maintain servers for their customers as well. They maintenance computers as well. They service some banks and hospitals as well so they have to stick to a security system called HIPAA. The thing I thought was the most interesting was the fact that they maintained there telecommunications net work 99.99 percent of the time, when the standard is almost 15% less.

Durango space is a small company that works with startups to invest. They also have a service called messenger pigeon that allows people to put stickers on their things and then find them again though an app. Jim and I talked allot about careers and the direction technology was going. We talked about how everything is either getting very small or very large. For instance Google and Samsung are competing to create a watch that would allow consumers to have their smart phones on their wrists. On the other hand computers are now using vast numbers and trying to find trends and patterns in human nature. My favorite part was watching some videos about robots and some creations that MIT are working on.

3/18/13

today i went around to four different businesses and wrote a summery of each

Audio air is a company that designed a modem that transmits the sound of the television to an app that you can download on your phone. Bars can rent these modems so that there customers can listen to what ever TV they want. They use the internet as the very back bone of their business. without it they would not be able to sell abroad and no one would be able to down load there app. There second largest source of income is through selling ad space on their app or on the TV. This would also be impossible without the internet. They can use the placement of the modems to specializes the type of add sent your phone. My favorite part is that the theme of the app changes depending on what bar you are in.

Duffy is a free lance web consultant and webpage designer. he also does advertising. He uses Word Press to design his websites. This means he is a "Front end" designer, this means he works with the part of the internet that people actually see. A "back end" designer actually writes code such as HTML. Using word press he can create a web page within hours, where as a back end designer would take much longer. Obviously he would have no job without the internet. I found it very interesting that you can make money by creating something that does not actually exist. I find it fascinating that we have grown to put value on things that are nothing more than electrical synapses. The thing that interested him the most was that the larger the field of things you do the more local you have to be, and the smaller and more specialized your skills the broader the range of your customer base.

I also got to meet with the city but I was not able to talk long with them, they seemed to have a system much like Stone age with virtual computers and virtual servers. Without the internet the city of Durango would not have as accurate maps, would not be able to remotely control utilities. They would not be able to remotely access the computers of their employees to trouble shoot. they would not be able to monitor the location of there police cars or save the video from the cameras on those cars. My favorite part were the 3 dimensional maps that were made using satellite mapping.

Southwest Connects is a local business that attempts to catalog all of the talent and human resources in the 4 corners and allow people to find the people they need. They rely on the internet to save these different profiles. There business goal is to allow people to find better matches for tams or work groups so that the full potential of the southwest can be utilized. They also use their website to monitor statistics about social trends. Humans can understand subtle things very easily and computers can monitor statistical things very easily. Working together they allow for clearer understanding of a situation. The most interesting I found at Southwest Connects was that they believed that industry was going to change from being a very money oriented system to a open source type program.

3/15/13

Today I went to Stone age tools to learn about how technology effects businesses. I wrote this brief review of the company and what I learned. I also learned that because my mentor inter view is so large i cannot upload it to the internet, to view it i can being it to who ever want to see it on a flash drive.

1. StoneAge develops tests and sells tools for high pressure water cleaning.
2. They use multiple different computer programs for 3D imaging and constructing of there products. They have a computer program that simulates the amount of pressure from the water passing through the equipment. Most of there computers are set up using only a couple servers and no towers, all computers are linked together and are called Virtual Machines. Your particular work station can be accessed from any of the access terminals.
3. Internet plays a major role in ordering, corresponding, tracking packages, clearing customs for selling over seas, Internet is used for phone calls using VoIP. With out internet or technology they would not be able to supply to as many customers with there products. Shipping would take much longer and ordering would not be as fast. Instead of using computers to create 3D models they would have to build them by hand. Testing would take much longer because all of the scenarios would have to be individually played out in real life instead of simulated. Everything would be filed in paper and not be as easy to find or organize.
4. We found that the idea that a 3D model could be created on a computer and then sent to the machine shop and created exactly how you designed it virtually, (down to a millionth of an inch) was the most interesting part of there system.

3/13/13

Today I got to interview my mentor. We then went up to cascade to meet with the owners and maintenance crew to address problems they had been having with phone and internet in the houses they rented. It turned out that getting backup batteries that would keep there gear running even if the power went out would fix much of there problems.  They have dirty power and that means it goes out a lot, when it goes out the routers and other equipment would need to be reset. After these batteries were installed and some other gear was updated, brainstorm would be able to monitor the system and trouble shoot other problems. I got to see the service room for cascade. When we returned I was tested on programming a router to a static IP address and had no issues at all.

I will upload the video of my interview when I have a good internet connection.

3/12/13

Today was a very mellow day in which I listened in to phone calls and researched for my project. I also learned a little bit about out look, command prompt and how to program a router.