TECHTalks

What is Scratch? Scratch is a coding platform and community focused on children and adults of all ages, offering a simple visual interface to unlock their creative minds in a digital platform, game development, and animation. Developed and maintained by the Scratch Foundation, a nonprofit organization, Scratch serves as a gateway for youngsters and college-level individuals to explore computational thinking and problem-solving skills. With Scratch, students of all ages and across various subjects, including math, computer science, language arts, and social studies, can engage in creative learning experiences. The platform fosters self-expression, collaboration, and equity in computing, ensuring that learners from diverse backgrounds have access to educational opportunities in coding. From elementary school to college, Scratch empowers students to express their ideas, collaborate with peers, and develop essential skills for the digital age. The Scratch Experience  Building a program...

It is important for individuals and organizations to stay alert in today's digital world. As cyber threats continue to evolve, understanding the vulnerabilities and risks associated with various attack methods comes with it. One such method involves the use of ping commands, which can be exploited to launch a Ping of Death attack. This attack floods a target system with a high traffic flow of ping packets, causing it to crash or become unresponsive. Additionally, ping commands can be leveraged in a Ping Flood attack to overwhelm a network's bandwidth, leading to network congestion and denial of service (DOS).        Phishing & Social Engineering These are two common security threats that are the easiest and most successful and exploit human vulnerabilities rather than technical flaws. Computer systems are vulnerable to phishing attacks because they often rely on the users' trust and input. “Individuals should be suspicious whenever they're asked to click on a lin...

Computers play a vital role in more than one way in the daily operation of the medical field. One function I can relate to is triage. It involves processing patients or organizing documents; it prioritizes patient care based on the severity of their condition, determining the level of care they require, and accessing any other medical needs, such as insurance or documents. Computers are utilized to input and access patient information without making a patient transfer request for information from their provider. This information allows healthcare professionals to make informed decisions about the urgency of each patient's needs and any prior medications or conditions they may have. Without computers we would be back to sorting file cabinets and running from clinic to clinic. Moving forward, the healthcare industry is determined to undergo significant changes driven by the medical and technological advances that are made. Over the next decade, I believe we will see more incorporatio...

Using ping and traceroute cmds provides valuable insight into how packets go through the network. When a device connected to a network sends a ping request to a destination, it sends small packets of data and measures the time for each packet to return, as shown in the command prompt. These packets travel through routers and switches in the network before arriving at their destination; a good look at these examples is through traceroute. Traceroute cmds provide a detailed map of the path these packets take through the networking, displaying each router or hop it takes. Through this method, it identifies the specific route and time these packets take to arrive at their destination. Comparisons Comparing the ping and traceroute results from different websites, for example, when I pinged Google.com, the response time was much shorter, showing that it was a direct and efficient route. However, when I pinged websites hosted in different areas, such as Australia and Japan, the response times...

Pandora gives you a personalized listening experience that continually evolves with your tastes. Create stations from your favorite songs, artists, or genres, search or browse for recommended stations for your mood or activity, and discover podcasts that speak to you. Usability Pandora's usability has top marks, providing a seamless and intuitive experience for users to explore and enjoy music. Upon opening the app, users are greeted with a simplistic but straightforward interface featuring their personalized radio stations and recommendations based on their listening history. Navigation through the app is as smooth as possible; while being simplistic, it provides all the needed information for users to decide and experience maximum entertainment and enjoyment. Users can add or create a number of new stations, adding variety to their preexisting playlists. However, users may experience ads or commercials in between, which may hinder its usability. Design Pandora's mellow and sl...

In today's digital age, software applications are crucial in various aspects of our lives, from organizing data to creating presentations. Four commonly used types of applications include Word processor, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and database applications, each serving unique functions with their own advantages and disadvantages. Through these applications, I will explain which is, in my opinion, the best for documenting my day and how each is best in their intended scenarios in this report. Word The first application on the list is a Word processor, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, primarily used for creating and editing text-based documents. Its advantages include formatting options, allowing users to customize the appearance of their documents with fonts, colors, and styles, including spelling and grammar checks, and collaboration tools such as simultaneously working with multiple users on the same document, making it easy to work on group projects or s...

IT careers go hand in hand with the field of information technology (IT), covering  a wide range of roles and responsibilities that are crucial for the development, implementation, and maintenance of technological systems and solutions. Information technology professionals play an important role in leveraging technology to meet the needs of individuals, businesses, and society as a whole. Fundamentals of Information Technology As the backbone of technological advances and breakthroughs, playing a pivotal role in the development, maintenance, and advancement of various digital systems and infrastructures. IT careers play a wide range of roles, including but not limited to software developers, network administrators, cybersecurity analysts, database administrators, and IT support specialists.  From a career perspective, information technology is largely responsible for much of our business operations and spans nearly every industry (CompTIA).  Each of these roles relies on ...