Ditch the Plastic!

In October 2014, Apple announced and released Apple Pay, a new accessory that came with the fingerprint reader on the home button that came with the 5s and 6 models. At first, a large majority, myself included, didn't see the point of Apple Pay when I carry my wallet around with me everywhere I go already.

However, ever since the release of the first iPhone model, Apple's ultimate goal is for its consumers to be able to leave the house with one object in hand. Whether it be a phone or a watch (or kinda both), Apple strives to be our be all end all. They introduced Apple Wallet, a handy app providing a place to safely store your cards, coupons, etc. The keyword here is "safe," and people soon began to see why. Apple claims that Apple Pay is a safer alternative to paying by card.

The way Apple pay works is this: you enter your credit card information into your Apple Wallet, and press the home button twice when near a payment scanner. Holding the home button to affirm your identity via fingerprint, the payment is approved. It feels like the future. The hidden advancements, however, are even more impressive. When you enter your info into your phone, neither your phone nor Apple receives any of your financial information. Instead, each time you use Apple Pay, your credit card company sends a phony number to your phone, which transfers that phony number to the card reader. Only the last 4 digits of this phony number match your actual credit card number, and there is no way to decipher your real number due to the fact that the phony is randomly generated.

The old method, swiping via magnetic strip, gives the retailer enough information where a hacker can access a scarily large amount of financial information. While the recently implemented method of small chips rather than magnetic strips is being adopted by all major credit card companies, Apple Pay is a fool-proof safe option.

References:

http://bgr.com/2014/10/23/is-apple-pay-safer-than-credit-cards/

Image:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-6-nfc-for-apple-pay-only/

Ray Tomlinson: Father of Email

       The late Ray Tomlinson, who passed away in March 2016, worked at BBN Technologies for decades; my dad worked there in the late 1990s and through part of the 2000s and knew Ray during his 14 years there. Ray, however, joined BBN in 1967, working there for over 30 years.

       From both my dad's stories and the internet, Ray's most famous accomplishment is the invention of email, but that came after multiple other developments. While at BBN he developed the TENEX operating system, which included the ARPANET Network Control Program. The ARPANET, put simply, led to the development of the internet. Ray wrote a program that could transfer files via the ARPANET, called CPYNET, and was asked to change and improve a program called SNDMSG. SNDMSG operated on a time-sharing computer at BBN; it essentially acted as a bulletin board where users could send messages to each other on the computer. 

In Ray's version of fun, he went a bit further with development and added code from CPYNET to SNDMSG which allowed the message files to be transferred to and from separate computers. This is essentially the same way emails work to this day, but Ray did it for the first time in 1971. 

       Now is where we switch from Wikipedia information to what my father has told me about Ray over the years. Each user on the original SNDMSG computer had a username. Since everything was running on the same machine, that's all the specification each user needed. However, after Ray sent the first email--something insignificant, Ray doesn't remember what it was exactly--there needed to be another layer of specification for each user to their own separate computer. This is how Ray came to implement the @ sign and invent its modern use: the sign marks a location for an individual server that hosts that particular user. For example: username@usercomputer.com refers to the username that is hosted by "usercomputer."

       It really is a shame Ray doesn't remember his initial test emails; he had quite the sense of humor. After being asked if he could remember them, he responded that the "test messages were entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them." He also urged the small number of coworkers he let in on his project to not "tell anyone! This isn't what we're supposed to be working on." What started as a fun test project turned into the foundation for modern professional communication, and even one of the major topics in this year's election debates! In all seriousness, founding a program that modern society could now not live without has left a great legacy for a long and successful career.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Tomlinson
images:
http://marketingland.com/segmentation-personalization-automation-runs-data-126428

Any quotes were from the sites above, neither me nor my dad have a verbatim memory of what Ray had to say on the subject.

Modern Dating: An Introduction to the Logic Behind Tinder

As the old school dating methods such as meeting people in person and offering to take them out die off, new modern dating methods are on the rise. The most commonly known modern dating method is Tinder, a dating app with a fresh dose of harsh honesty. Tinder is comparable to Hot or Not, another superficial dating app. In Tinder, the user sets a radius; any person that both fits the user's sexual orientation and is within the user's radius will show up to the user's screen. The user then swipes right if interested, left if not interested. If both parties, the user and the person within the radius that is also swiping, swipe right, the pair is matched and have the opportunity to chat.




The logic behind the app is straightforward and can be broken down into programming terms. If PersonA likes Person B && PersonB likes PersonA, there is a match. Else, nothing happens. For an app that reports around 50 million users per month with 12 million matches per day, it seems like the code required to create Tinder was not all that complicated when only considering the underlying function of the app (not the performance, graphic effects, or other extra code put into the app). Expressing logic in Java or any other programming language is very natural and free of clutter, and I think that shows here. The logic behind an entire style of dating and networking can be summed up in a few lines of code.


Sources:
Tinder User Count info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinder_(app)
Image:
https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/11/tinder-matching-algorithm/
Image:
http://www.hercampus.com/school/pace/6-tips-tinder-dating

Progression of Manufacturing via Technological Advancement

Advancements in technology have allowed for advancements in all other fields. Technological advancements are actually rooted in economic theory; once human and physical capital reach capacity, technology is the only factor that can increase output in the long term (until new maximums of capital are introduced).

For example, let's take a look at how cars have been manufactured over the years. Before the early 1900's, cars were built by hand, piece by piece, and efficient factories could only build a couple dozen per day. However, Henry Ford came along and invented the assembly line, taking advantage of the idea of specialization and speeding the process of automobile production up.

Over the years, programmers and companies realized the men on those assembly lines, while possibly great people, were perfectly replaceable. Ideally, they'd be replaced by something the company didn't have to pay hourly. Modern assembly lines are run by machines that operate under the direction of programs, as seen as these robotic arms tending to a new Ferrari chassis:

There's no doubt that these new methods of production pay for themselves both through lack of labor costs and new speeds of production.

Knowledge on the timing of Ford and the assembly line:
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/cars.html

Ford Assembly Line image:
http://ophelia.sdsu.edu:8080/ford/12-30-2012/our-company/heritage/heritage-news-detail/heritage-model-a-production-begins-at-rouge.html
Ferrari Assembly Line image:
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-19544906