Throughout history there has been a need to create a secret code in order for a small group of people to communicate with each other. A cipher is an advanced secret code that codes each individual letter instead of focusing on the words. These secret codes can be very simple rearrangement of letters or numbers into a code or something more elaborate. Many ciphers are impossible to break because the codes are based upon unknown mathematical formulas or substitute symbols for letters and numbers. Most famous cipher’s are used during periods of war with one side creating the cipher and the other side trying desperately to decode the messages but ciphers

Probably the most well known cipher of all time is the German Enigma of World War II. German military and diplomatic information was encoded using an typewriter style machine called “Enigma.” This device had three wheels which would type a different letter than the one you choose on the keyboard. To further complicate the encryption, after each character, the wheels would change so that a different letter would be produced for repeated characters. This made the classic style of decryption and code breaking impossible to complete on an Enigma created document.

To decrypt an Enigma code the receiver only needed to know which wheels to use and which position to start them in. Eventually, England was able to break the Enigma code but they kept the information highly confidential until thirty years after the war. In order to break the Enigma code, computers were used. It would have taken years for some to sit at the Enigma typewriter and try every wheel and every position but computers were able to run through ever different combination as quickly as possible in an attempt to decode the words.

During World War II, the Japanese military had their own cipher. While not as detailed in creation as the German Enigma code, the Japanese Navy cipher consisted of 33,000 words, phrases, and letters and was the primary code used for all military operations. Using a series of mathematical analysis, IBM punch-card computing machines, and a cipher machine, a team of American’s was able to crack most of this cipher before 1942. The Japanese cipher was much easier to break because many of the intercepted messages started with the same phrases and constantly repeated information that was easy to verify. The Japanese also failed to change their cipher key often enough to keep ahead of the code break efforts.

Not ever famous cipher was used during a war, for many people creating and decoding ciphers is a hobby. Recently a cipher called the Smithy Code was embedded into the legal judgement from Justice Peter Smith on The Da Vinci Code copyright case. As the book The Da Vinci Code was based upon the idea of a cipher being included in art and information around the main character the justice presiding over the case included a cipher in the court documents. The letters of the code were actual text of the written judgement, but were italicized to stand out from the rest of the text. After the letters were extracted from the text and several hints were followed, people were able to decipher this amusing challenge.

The Beale cipher is another fun cipher created to challenge people to crack the code. This cipher is a set of three texts which allegedly state the location of a buried treasure claimed to be worth over 30 million US dollars. It is claimed that the texts in the cipher were written in 1885 and detail a treasure being buried by a gentleman named Thomas Jefferson Beale in a secret location in Virginia. Beale left the box with the encrypted messages with a local innkeeper and then disappeared. After the innkeeper’s death, the paperwork was taken by a family friend who was able to decode the first text. People have spent the last 100 years attempting to crack the codes in the however until the second and third texts are decoded the treasure remains a mystery.

Today, we use ciphers for internet security and personal privacy. Encryption software created a cipher based upon the guidelines set up in the program. Many encryption programs allow you to create your own security code which is required by the receiver in order to view the data as unencrypted. Encryption can make our personal information safer from casual theft but nothing is completely safe if someone really wants or thinks they need the information. We must never believe that our codes cannot be broken, even codes created by computer programs and personal keys. History has shown time and time again that with the correct equipment and a meticulous though process, any code no matter how complete or crack proof we believe it to be can be broken.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Many people use technology to communicate with their friends and love ones but never give a thought to how technology has improved their lives. Technology surrounds us every day, the grocery store is dripping in technology, the buses run on computers, and even the dentist uses digital cameras and computer imaging systems instead of x-rays. While we live our lives surrounded with technology, have you ever stopped to consider how society can be changed through technology?

The internet opened up forms of communication that we never thought were possible before. Today we have hundreds of social news sites where individuals can write and post news reports pertaining to the world around them. People can also comment and respond to ideas through forums and commenting systems which means we can share ideas and knowledge with anyone in the world at any time. Imagine if we created a forum where this open communication path was used to create social policy and laws? No longer would social policy be created by the elite few who find themselves governing others but by the masses.

Open source software allows many people to provide their own input and knowledge towards the creation of useable software. There are still many societies where the exchange of ideas is not open or acceptable. We should bring open source software to these societies and help to teach that sharing ideas and knowledge with others can be a profitable endeavor for everyone. We can also take the ideas of working together to create other open source projects. Using the ideas of open source will increase the eduction level of people around the world, teachers can and are releasing their lessons and knowledge the world through the internet. Children who live their whole lives without access to teachers can now learn by listening to audio recordings or watching a television show.

Many employers area already using video technology to connect their office locations together and avoid large travel expenses. What if we connected employers with possible employees around the world through video communication? Technology could help raise the level of earnings for many people who barely make enough money to survive. A new form of work would be created through the use of video communication. Some workplaces already communicate mainly through email, why not expand this idea and hire the most qualified person no matter where they are located in the world.

Another method of sharing has been created through creative commons. We can improve society by releasing all forms of art under the creative commons licensing structure. Allowing other people to spread our art and use as they see fit can help spread the ideas behind our creations and challenge others to create as well. Time and time again society has been changed by the artistes within and today we have the ability to spread art to every corner of the world by using the internet and technology. Of course, all of our ideas towards using technology and the internet to improve society can only succeed if we have net neutrality. Individuals need to be able to choose what they access on the internet without the interference from an internet provider or their government.

The ability to share knowledge and information with anyone in the world through the internet is one of the best ways we can improve society. However, without a computer hardware infrastructure the internet is nothing but a communication idea. The One Laptop Per Child Initiative (OLPC for short) is a great example of how we can get computers into the hands of people who need them. Computers do not need to be top-of-the-line gaming computers designed to produce high end 3D graphics. We can provide low cost equipment to people who have never owned a computer before. These low end computers are able to connect to the internet and therefore connect to the world.

With an OLPC style computer and a webcam, individuals will be able to document the horrors inflicted on people in third world countries and post the information to the internet for all to see. No longer will one man or one government be able to hide behind their silence and abuse people in their countries. When a society is under siege by a despot, the truth can become societies best weapon. That truth can be recorded on computers and posted to the internet. Even if we can not get a computer in to the hands of every person in the world, there are other technologies that work just as well. Digital cameras can store thousands of pictures on a chip smaller than a postage stamp. If we arm people around the world with cameras we can still communicate and learn through the photos.

Cell phones are also a great technology that will help to improve the lives of people around the world. Even something as simple as a voice conversation can change a person’s life. If all you have is a cell phone that makes voice calls, you could connect to voice recognition software and communicate with the world. People could use cell phones to listen to educational recordings and expand their knowledge. We could teach people new skills and give them training all through a cell phone conversation.

Finally, advanced in manufacturing technology should be shared with all the countries of the world to help improve not only society but the environment as well. By training people on high speed manufacturing processes we can improve the working conditions of millions of people around the world. Clothing manufacturing will not longer need to be completed through sweatshop practices instead high-tech cloth cutters and sewing machines could be used.

Many times technology surrounds us and we fail to notice how our lives are improved. We have become so immune to how improved our lives are because of technology that we often fail to see that there are other people who need assistance. We need to spread our technology to all countries of the world and help to improve their societies as well.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Long before Bill Gates began to sell Windows and even longer before Google became the king of the internet, there were people laying the ground work for the computers we have today. Did you know that computers have actually been in existence since the mid 1930’s however these early computers looked and acted nothing like the machines we use today. How did we get from there to now? With the help of a few key scientists and mathematicians who concentrated on the ideas of computing and improving the computers we had.

George Boole is consider by many to be the father of computer science. While his work fell out of fashion after his death in 1864, today the ideas that Boole developed are considered very relevant. George Boole is the creator of Boolean Algebra which is the basis of how all digital computers work. Boole was born in England in 1815, he became a teacher during his teen years and at 20 years old he opened his own school. At 34, Boole moved to Ireland and became the first professor of mathematics at Queen’s College where he remained until his death. Boole concentrated on mathematical research that linked the ideas of logic to algebra instead of philosophy. Boole’s greatest achievement was his use of algerbra to express logical propositions. Boole was considered to be ahead of his time, he wrote many essays in the mid 19th century expresssing his understanding of logic and the relationship to mathematics. You probably know a few Boolean words yourself because we still use his algebra when using internet search engines.

Konrad Zuse was a construction engineer during WWII where he earned the unofficial title of “inventor of the modern computer.” One of the most difficult tasks of doing a large calculation on a slide rule or adding machine is keeping track of the intermediate results and correctly replacing these results later in the process. Zuse wanted to create a process to complete these large calculations easily and he realized that an automatic calculator would do the trick as long as it had a control, memory, and the calculating processor. In 1936, Zuse made the first binary computer called the Z1 unfortunatley this computer was destroyed during World War II but Zuse continued to work on his binary computers creating the Z2, Z3, and Z4 through the 1940s.

John Von Neumann was considered a child prodigy when he was born in Hungry in 1903 and was another mathematician and scientist who has been credited as fundamental to the creation of the computer we use today. Before Von Neumann, most mathematicians used computers to create tables of data that were then applied to abstract mathematical ideas. Von Neumann was interested in applying the processing power of computer to specific mathematical problems instead of creating these abstract ideas. Von Neumann focused on developing the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) computer which was to be the first computer that could store and recall programs. Later in life Von Neumann worked for the IBM company and was responsible for accepting new computer ideas into their research and development program. Von Neumann became one of the most influential people in the computing field as any new ideas for development that were taken to IBM had to pass his approval.

Alan Turing, born 1912 in London studied mathematics at Cambridge University and was greately influenced by the early publications of Von Neumann. Turing worked during World War II on deciphering German code cyphers and is credited as instrumental in cracking the German secret codes. Turing is also credited for designing what many believe to be the first electronic computer. Turing designed the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) but this machine was never built. Had the ACE been completed it would have been faster and had more memory than any computer created before it. Turing understood the concept that Von Neumann exponded upon with a computers need to store and recall programs. In 1950, Turin invented the Turing Test which is a philiosophical and logical test designed to test for intelligence in computers.

As we progress through the history with computers there is often great controversy about who to credit for specific findings and discoverys. Many scientists worked together to publish papers and create working models of their theories and in some cases this has caused great debate on who to credit for a theory or discovery. While one person may believe that the EDVAC computer bares no resembelance to the computers we use today, there is someone else who directly sites EDVAC as the grandfather of the computers we use today. In general, we need to be aware how the ideas of one person have been built upon by the scientists of the next generation. You may have your favorite historical person fundmental to the creation of the computer and the truth is that without all of the great minds associated with computing we would not have anything at all.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Do you often find yourself trying to remember things from your life and failing? Do you need to learn a lot of facts or details in your job and never seem to be able to remember everything completely? Or maybe you simply want to be able to concentrate on a project for longer than fifteen minutes. If any of this is familiar to you, it is time to boost your cognition and improve your memory. Technology allows us new methods of brain stimulation and memory tools. You no longer need to resort to creating paper flash cards and quizzing yourself hourly. You can use your computer and technology in general to help improve your memory.

One software program that can help boost your memory is SuperMemo. SuperMemo is a database of material you need to learn. You can either create your own database of information to learn or use a pre-created database. During a review session, SuperMemo quizzes you on the material in its database and tracks your responses. Then, depending on the goals you set for yourself in SuperMemo, the program creates the ideal review program for the material you need to learn. You will not spend time reviewing information you already know because SuperMemo tracks the information you already knows and helps you to focus on the facts and information you still need to learn. Psychologists believe that improving your memory requires repeatedly study and SuperMemo is able to help you study efficiently.

If you are trying to boost your memory to help learn unfamiliar items, you may want to create a mnemonic device. Mnemonic devices associate lists of items with other words or acronyms. Mnemonic devices are can be either silly new sentences or entire stories and usually devising the mnemonic terms is hard if your brain is not working at its full capacity. To aid in creating a mnemonic device, there are many programs available on the internet that can help you. One such website is The Mnemonicizer which can help you build the best mnemonic device for the information you are trying to learn. The sillier the mnemonic saying you create, the easier it will be to remember the information for the long term so if you are stuck on a list of material you need to learn quickly, give the mnemonic device a try.

Improving your cognition increases not only your ability to remember items you have learned or been exposed to but your ability to think and communicate as well. The human brain starts to slow down as we age and there is evidence that this slowing begins as early as age 30. By playing simple brain games we can halt this brain slowdown and in many cases actually speed our brains up again. Lumosity is a brain training program that has been developed to be fun and engaging while allowing our brains to be challenged and worked. The Lumosity program is a scientifically designed brain training process. This program contains many different computer games designed to be entertaining and brain stimulating at the same time. After you being to play the brain games available through Lumosity, you will discover that not only are you able to concentrate better and think in a clear and concise manner but you actually feel better emotionally and physically.

Even when you do not have time to spend on a brain game or quizzing yourself with SuperMemo, you can still use technology to boost your cognition. Sometimes our brains may either not know or forget how to create the brain waves necessary for learning and concentration. Remember, our brains start to slow down around the age of 30 and part of this slow down may be forgetting how to create certain brain wave patterns. A brain enhancement CD is designed to stimulate your brain to create brain wave patterns similar to the patterns found in highly intelligent and over-achieving individuals. Do not worry, this will not hurt, all you need to do is listen to the CD containing music and sounds while studying, reading, or performing tasks that need increased concentration. You can even incorporate the sounds into your own music playlists and into some music streamed from the internet which will allow you to listen to the music you enjoy and improve your cognition at the same time.

Whatever process or program you decide to use in order to boost your cognition, you do need to change your process periodically in order to re-stimulate your brain and to avoid muscle memory. If you constantly perform the same learning process again and again, you take the chance on memorizing the process which will stop the process of brain stimulation necessary to boost your cognition. Keep boosting your cognition and you will soon discover that not only are you able to remember items better but you will have a better outlook on life in general.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Do you watch movies or television shows downloaded from the internet? Do you listen to music that your found on a file sharing network? If so, you may be shocked to discover that you are taking part in an illegal activity known as copyright infringement. Most people have no idea that many of the files available on the internet are not released by the owner of the media but by people who are trying to make money through theft. The availability of popular television shows, current movies, popular songs, and even expensive computer software is hard to stay away from. Why spend money on movies or software, when you can get it for free?

In order to combat copyright infringement, many people who create the movies, television shows, and music that we love have decided to create their own websites to house their programs. These websites are often supported through advertisement and you may have to sit through some ads during your favorite television show but in the end you will have access to free or low cost entertainment without stealing from anyone.

If you love to watch movies and videos, you may be interested in independent movies created under the creative commons license. Revver media (www.revver.com) is a great website that currently has over 7,000 different videos for you to watch. Many of the videos are created by professionals who work full time to create new web videos for people to watch. You can find many different genres of video entertainment at Revver media and with new videos being released daily, you may find yourself spending more time at Revver than you do watching television. On Networks (www.onnetworks.com) is another independent video website that allows you to download videos for free. Many of the shows available through On Networks are short infotainment style shows. For mainstream television and movies, visit Hulu.com (www.hulu.com). Hulu has clips and full episodes of many television shows and movies, however, you are not able to download the shows which means you must watch while connected to the internet.

For people who love to listen to music it can be hard to find legal downloads of music. Several websites have been created for people to listen to music online without stealing the files but what do you do when you want to take the music with you? First, try to listen to bands that are pro-file sharing. It may takes a few minutes, but with a little work you can find out if your favorite bands are pro-filing sharing. Or, find a new favorite band through Unsigned (www.unsigned.com) which provides unsigned music artists a place to post their music and find fans. Artist Server (www.artistserver.com) is another great website that provides pro-file sharing bands a place to distribute their music using the creative commons license and find new fans. If you listen and support pro-file sharing bands, you can help prove to the people who create movies and other forms of entertainment that people can make money even if they share their art for free.

Did you know that besides movies, television shows, and music you can find books to read on the internet? Many classic books are now in the public domain and available on the internet for free. Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) has spent several years converting classic books that are in the public domain to electronic books that you can download and read. Project Gutenberg even has a downloadable book catalog for you to use if you do not know what book you want to read. For more contemporary reading materials, you may want to check out Manybooks.net (www.manybooks.net). Many authors will release their stories of novels under the creative commons copyright license which allows you to download and read their works for free. If you like a book that is released under creative commons you may want to consider purchasing a copy in order to help support the author and their file sharing beliefs.

There are also many software developers who release their software for free. You can even use Google Docs (www.google.com) to replace your expensive office productivity software suite. If your looking for a free operating system for your computer, consider installing Linux. Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) is an easy to use and install form of linux that you can use for free. There are also thousands of software programs available for linux, including office programs and photoshop replacements. To explore many of the software choices available with linux check out www.linuxsoftware.org.

Finally, in order to reduce the chance you are committing copyright infringement, you should consider producing your own works and publishing them. In order to create enough legal media and provide everyone with the media and art forms they desire, we all need to join in and start creating our own art. Even if your not a professional, creating your own media and distributing it under the creative commons license allows others to enjoy what you make and challenges them to make and release their own media. Your not limited to videos or television shows, you can take photos, make music and even write books. Providing everyone with media that does not infringe on copyright keeps us all legal and entertained.

Popularity: 2% [?]

You may have heard that Google has a motto of “Do Not Be Evil” but as this giant internet company continues to invade our lives more and more, the company takes more and more liberties with our information online. How many times today did you visit a website that had a link to Google, either directly as a Google franchise or indirectly through advertising or data sharing. We all believe that Google the services provided by Google are important and beneficial to our lives but this company grows larger and larger everyday. There may come a time when we no longer see Google as doing no evil but how will this company be overthrown?

Today, Google is under attack through the demands of the telecommunications monopolies. In the United States, most internet services are provided to homes by a telecommunication company. The individual pays a small fee each month for unlimited access to the internet. Google makes billions of dollars each year by connecting to the individual and advertising to them. At no time does Google pay the telecommunication company any money for the ability to use their internet infrastructure to reach people in their homes. If net neutrality laws are not passed, Google may be forced to pay the internet service providers and the telecommunication monopolies a large fee in order to continue to provide internet uses with services we have become acquainted with.

Improvements in home computing and desktop hardware may eventually be the downfall of Google as well. As the company becomes older and more well known, people may being to look for the next great and hot internet idea or they will make their own. Just as Google’s search engine was created by two people on a home computer if open search algorithms are created and released we may have other people creating new search engines or wiki style databases of all the data and information available. Imagine being able to rival the amount of data Google has been able to amass from your kitchen table because you have the ability to store terabytes of data on your computer. WIth open search algorithms and improved advancements in artificial intelligence you will have the ability to search and collect everything you desire and build your own citizen encyclopedia of information. You will not need to rely on a search engine to find information for you because you have your own database which is constantly being added to by the artificial intelligence and search algorithms.

Increased competition from China and Russia may eventually cause Google to be overthrown as the leader in internet search and advertising. Google provides many software programs for free to its users. These programs usually require someone to be connected to the internet in order to use them, but as more and more people from China and Russia begain to exploit the internet we may see an influx of cheep software programs available. Some people use the free Google software to host materials that they do not hold the copyright for. If Google ever suffers from a data loss scandal or has to deal with copyright litigation based upon data found in one of the online programs hosted by the company, people will begin to move away from these free online programs and may find that cheep software from China and Russia is a viable solution.

Eventually, Google will suffer a data loss scandal of some sort that will be exploited by competitors very easily. Every day Google begins to collect more and more information about its uses. While most of the information Google has collected about each user is relatively begin, imagine what would happen if the company succeeds in gaining access to private medical records and an unhappy employee steals the data. A scandal of this magnitude would effectively overthrow the company very quickly. There are currently several grassroots privacy campaigns focused on Google’s amassing of personal data and working to educate the public of the dangers associated with allowing Google to continue to collect personal information about its users.

Today we trust Google because of their motto “Do Not Be Evil” but would you continue to place all your information and trust in the company if there was a change in the management philosophy? There will be a time when management makes a decision that is good for the company but not seen as good by the internet population in general. After all, Google is a company that wants to make a profit. We are already seeing management and profit decisions coming from the company because, Google is overextending itself and expanding into areas and markets that would not be considered their core business. Do we really need a cell phone created by Google? Eventually Google will extend itself beyond its capabilities and begin to flounder in areas that are unsuccessful for the company. These unsuccessful endeavors will drain Google’s bank account and popularity.

While Google is king of the internet at this moment, internet users are fickle and at some point in the future our desire for all things Google will wane. At that point Google will be prime to be overthrown and a new company will step in to replace Google as provider and collector of most of the internet’s data.

Popularity: 4% [?]

1. Bank Tellers: The proliferation of online banking means that the brick and mortar bank is soon on its way to fossilization and a place in a museum. If the Automated Transaction Machine (ATM) had not already given the personal teller a clear signal that he or she was no longer an entirely necessary service, the now ubiquitous online banking services offered by all major and minor banks across the nation will certainly spell the end for redundant tellers.

2. Paper: Paper is resource that has cost the earth heavily when it comes to carbon sinks such as the South American rainforest and soil stabilizers such as the evergreen forests of the northwest United States. So it is with a happy countenance that we predict the redundancy of paper within the next decade or so, as electronic documents take over the niche formerly filled by blank sheets.

3. Insurance Agents: Door to door insurance agents, thankfully, will soon become a distant past memory, as more and more insurance companies realize the advantages of peddling their insurance packages online and making themselves available to customers actually seeking their services for a fraction of the cost of face to face solicitation.

4. Travel Agents: Fewer and fewer travel consumers are going to brick and mortar travel agents as the majority of travel plans are being made online. Travel agents will still operate, but their range of service will be greatly expanded as fewer and wider geographic barriers will exist. What’s more, efficiency will be greatly enhanced, as agents will no longer wait for customers to come to the agency location, but will serve a much larger online market.

5. Real Estate Agents: Buying and selling homes and property has become an almost entirely online experience. From perusing the real estate news to scanning lists of available for sale homes to the communication between agents and clients, the process is rarely completed on a face to face level. Moreover, real estate agents are becoming redundant service, as sellers are able to get in touch with buyers directly and cut out the expense of a flesh and blood agent.

6. Music Stores: Virgin Records and HMV will very shortly be closing their doors in many locations as the demand for brick and mortar music stores decreases to nothing and more and more of the total percentage of music sales occurs online. I-Tunes has already paved the way for music to be distributed entirely online and, in doing so, cutting out large amounts of overhead cost while not passing that saving on to the consumer who seems happy to continue paying the same rate online as he or she would in a conventional music store.

7. Cable Television: With cable consumers less and less satisfied with the rates and packages available through conventional cable providers, and with digital and satellite services often outside an average consumers budget, online television will be become ever more prevalent as the millennium progresses. For instance, for fifty dollars, a consumer can usually purchase twenty eight channels. Some of those channels broadcast the same content, sometimes at the same time, while almost eighty percent of the content will have no interest to the consumer whatsoever. It seems only logical that a pay per channel or even per program service online would attract a substantial proportion of the television entertainment dollar.

8. Movie Theaters: Movie theaters across the country are hemorrhaging money as fewer and fewer consumers choose the traditional venues of entertainment and their attention is ever increasingly split between film, television, music, and other forms of entertainment. As a result, Hollywood and other worldwide film production and distribution centers will have to explore new routes to get their products to the consumer. For films, the obvious route is online distribution. Movies, both released and unreleased are already widely illegally distributed online, so it only makes good business sense to make clean and easy to work down loadable copies of films available online to compete with bootleggers and provide a new alternative revenue stream. Like music, similar fees could be charged for downloads as for more costly distribution methods such as theaters and stores.

9. AM/FM Radio: The AM and FM channels are quickly being replaced by satellite radio and by live streaming over the internet. Live streaming in particular is a virtual twin to a on-air broadcast, except the signal quality of live streaming is easier to control and can be received anywhere with the proper connection.

10. Ticket Agents: High street ticket agents are a thing of the past now that the internet has revolutionized the way we buy tickets. In years to come there will be no high street ticket agents what-so-ever, all tickets will be purchased on the internet with ease and without the hassle of all that queuing malarkey.

Popularity: 10% [?]