Unzipped

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Secure Your Life No password, no account and no person is competely safe from attackers.

Discover how to best protect yourself, your identity and your life.

The Goods The Inside Job The Demise of Apple Page 6

Page 17

Page 21

The Goddard Institute for Space Studies is now installing one of IBM’s most advanced space modeling hardware available. Climate scientists and aeronautics engineers have waited for this day for years.

This is what we do.

Join us at ibm.com.

2 Unzipped

Contents Secure Your Life 8

Today, as computer security improves, so do attacker’s ability to circumvent these measures. Unzipped explores how users can protect themselves and future technologies that might one day replace passwords.

The Demise of Apple 21

Apple is loosing its grip in the flurry of competition because of a lack of original products. Unzipped describes the details.

The Inside Job 17

14

Three people compare and contrast their experiences on three similar yet different operating systems: Windows, Mac and Linux. Each operating system’s goal is to be user friendly, intuitive and fast. Which OS would you choose?

IPv6

The future of the Internet

4

Meet the Team

26

The

Goods

6

Letter from the Editors Unzipped 3

5

Meet the Team

Arthur Pachachura

Director of Design

A strong programmer since 2007, Arthur is the lead designer for the team. He enjoys building robots, taking them apart, and playing the violin (though not all at once).

John DiCarlo

Director of Photography

John is currently a freshman at LASA who is forced to split his time between three things. He is the star history player on the LASA Quiz Bowl Freshman team, starting JV first baseman and 2nd chair violist in the LBJ Philharmonic.

Travis Shivers

Editor-in-Chief

Computers have always been in Travis’ life. He got his first computer when he was six years old. Today he is a freshman at LASA high school. He currently plays the trumpet in the LBJ Symphonic Band. He enjoys listening to classical music.

Q and A

4 Unzipped

Q: How long have you worked as a team?

Q: What is the purpose of your magazine?

A: Not long. Three months or so. We have known each other passively since 2009. That’s four years, right?

A: “Equipping every person with the latest knowledge of the information sector.” We came up with that over lunch.

Letter from the Editors Writing a magazine for the first

come in and critique what we had

password. “IPv6” shows how we

time is a challenge. There are a lot of

just came up with. After that, we had

need a new addressing system to

things that you have never noticed

to start working on the material.

keep track of all the devices in the

or heard of before but make a big

We first completed our ASFs and in

world. The Inside Job is the story of

difference to the final output of

plenty of time. With our extra time,

3 different operating systems as

the magazine. We had never heard

we were able to complete our Table

explained by their users. The Demise

the word ASF before, we had just

of Contents and this spread. Then

of Apple reveals how Apple is not the

assumed that they were all stories.

we had to work on our Features.

company that it once was and how

When you read something, you

We had to interview a lot of people

they are not as strong anymore. Last,

take it for granted that everything

before we could start writing our

but not least, “IBM Watson” dives in

is formatted correctly, unlike what

stories, so after we interviewed

to how Watson works and explains

actually happens because all the

them, we wrote a rough draft and

how it can win Jeopardy.

formatting takes forever to complete.

then designed a rough draft of the

We think that this course is a very

layout. After we finished that, we

good course to take in the first

made sure all of the layouts in all of

year at the Liberal Arts and Science

the stories were identical, and finally

Academy, because it taught us how

worked on tweaking minor stuff like

to format and design things, and we

advertisements and more minor

believe that we will need these skills

formatting issues.

in our future years at LASA.

This issue will be discussing

Our magazine interviewed lots of people. We would like to thank Harper Shapiro, Jonah Shaukat and Scott Strubberg for their contribution towards Secure Your Life. We also appreciate the contributions of Michael Martinez, Jeff Satterwhite and Niels Kornerup towards The Demise

many different topics. “The Goods”

of Apple. We would finally like to

process to follow. First, we had to

talks about the newest products

thank Dylan Danzeiser, Austin Dell

come up with a logo, a color scheme,

by the top companies. Secure Your

and Hunter S. Thompson for their

and a mission statement. Then we

Life explains that security is getting

contribution towards The Inside Job.

had to have a professional designer

weaker and how to make a strong

This magazine had a specific

Q: What are your interests and talents?

A: We all have different talents, but all our interests revolve around technology and music. We were all in the same orchestra this year. The difference between us is what keeps us together.

Q: You say to equip every person with the latest knowledge of the information sector. No exceptions?

A: Not really. If you have a computer, a keyboard and a mouse, you can learn what’s new, how to get it and even how to make it yourself (within warranty).

Q: If you could improve one thing about the nature of technology, what would it be?

A: Accessibility. If someone could conjure up a $10 computer with a screen, everyone on Earth will be able to join in the universal network of knowledge, known simply as the Internet.

Unzipped 5

The Goods

Windows 8

by John DiCarlo

There were many electronic devices that came out in 2012 and while some of them were complete busts, there were some must buys.

THESE ARE THE TOP 6

Nexus 7

With its new start screen and now touch screen, Windows has finally come closer to figuring it out. The speeds are faster, the graphics better, everything is better. $119.99

iPad Mini

Google’s newest tablet, and first in a series, it is “7” because of a giant 7 inch display. It has a three core processor, making it faster, and with 10 hours of battery life, it will last a lot longer.

The Mini is smaller than the original iPad, but it is still much bigger than most tablets, making it cheaper and thinner. Add to that it is faster and lighter, and you’ve got a great tablet.

$199

$329

6 Unzipped

iPhone 5 Apple’s newest iPhone comes with all kinds of new things including a bigger screen (while weighing less) and comes with new features including panorama photos and longer battery life. $199

Raspberry Pi A computer is now credit card sized and can cost $25? When do we get our teleporters? The Raspberry Pi is very fast considering that it is so tiny and all you need is a TV or a monitor. It can hold up to 256 MBs of RAM on this thing, so it may not have much storage, but it is tiny.

Model A $25. Model B $35

Galaxy Note 2 Samsung’s newest phone/tablet hybrid has many cool features that you can do with the stylus including Air View and Quick Command, which makes it much easier to read emails and documents. This makes it a great device. $330 Unzipped 7

8 Unzipped

Secure Your Life Today, as computer security improves, so do attacker’s ability to circumvent these measures. Unzipped explores how users can protect themselves and future technologies that might one day replace passwords.

By Travis Shivers

Unzipped 9

Secure Your Life

E

asy six character passwords

web passwords habits, the average web

were pretty secure 20 years

users has around 25 different accounts

are exactly the same from after that

ago when password crackers

but uses only 6.5 different passwords.

incident,” Shaukat said. “So I haven’t

could only try about 1093

“To tell the truth, all my passwords

One of the major mistakes people make

really changed any. I have been too lazy

combinations per second at a normal

today is using the same password for

to change it.”

workstation. Today, a mixed case six

multiple websites. Scott Strubberg, a

character alphanumeric password with

networking teacher at the Liberal Arts

symbols can be cracked in around 8.17

and Science Academy, said that he is

hours, and if it’s a dictionary word, it can

amazed how insecure people make them

be cracked almost instantly.

today.

Internet security is an increasing

This is a common dilemma that most users face. They see remembering authentication credentials as cumbersome and practice poor security as a result. Many users have no idea

“There are so many dictionary

about how to go about creating a secure

concern among computer users today as

attacks,” Strubberg said. “Password

password. Harper Shapiro, another

more and more personal data is being

crackers will run a program or script that

student at LASA, faces this problem.

stored online. However, most users have

will just go through the dictionary. So

no idea about how to protect themselves

if you just have a dictionary password,

and secure their data.

then that can be easily cracked.”

According to a study by Microsoft on

Insecure passwords are one of the most

Top 10 Passwords These top passwords of 2012 were compiled from attacks resulting in exposed databases. These passwords or variations on them should never be used as they can be cracked immediately.

1. password 2. 1234 3. 123456 4. abc123 5. querty 6. letmein 7. dragon

common attack vectors for computer systems.

According to a recently-

“I try to use passwords like capital letters, stuff that’s not completely obvious, but you know the factor of

“The factor of remembering is worth a lot for me.”

published Trustwave 2012 Security Report, 80 percent of security incidents were due to the use of weak administrative credentials. Jonah Shaukat, a student at LASA, had his

- Harper Shapiro

remembering is worth a lot for me,” Shapiro said. “I try to use similar passwords at least for most of my stuff.”

Shapiro sees the cause as this problem as both the system and the users.

YouTube account compromised due to a

It’s more of a problem with the

weak password. Before his account was

system to where they kind of have to

stolen, he knew almost nothing about

chose easier passwords so they can

internet security.

remember them,” Shapiro said. “People’s

“I feel like the sheer stupidity of my password was a factor in me being hacked,” Shaukat said. “But really, I was not doing much to prevent it being hacked.”

After his account was taken over, he

mental capacity to want to lean towards just making easy passwords and all the same password for stuff, and that is just really unsafe. But it’s what people do anyway and it’s not going to stop until the system is different. Making unique passwords for each website is really

8. 111111

immediately went around and changed

difficult. So they desire not to do work to

9. baseball

all of his account logins. However, he

just get into simple websites.”

10. asdf

really did not change his overall security

Data courtesy of ZDnet 10 Unzipped

habits.

Even though Shapiro has insecure logins, he is not concerned enough

about getting hacked to change his

to anybody making a password. The

attacker will not be able to compromise

habits.

ultimate best is just have it be a random

their other accounts since they are using

Strubberg sees lack of education about internet security as the

“The ultimate best is just have it be a random assortment of letters and numbers and symbols.”

- Scott Stubberg

main cause of this problem. He explains

assortment of letters and numbers and symbols.

That is the crème de la crème.”

that there are some easy ways that users can increase security without having to

Users can also add complexity to

unique passwords for every website.

Many users find remembering different logins for every website very cumbersome. One method of making them unique is to have a portion of them remain the same across all of their accounts and change just a portion of it for each account. Users could base

use much effort. Strubberg explains that

them by adding words that are spelled

the unique part on the website’s name.

complexity is the key to a secure strong

backwards, randomly throwing in capital

For example, a user might have a static

password. He mentioned that most

letters, and substituting letters for similar

part as Hor$313b@ttery39. Then, to

websites already show users how secure

symbols. For example, a user might

make each one unique, this user might

theirs is as well as requiring them to be

replace an S with $, an A with @, and

add the first two characters of the

a certain length and contain enough

an I with !. They could also make them

website’s name to the beginning of the

character variability.

easier to remember by basing them on

password and the last two characters

an acronym or random English words.

of the website’s name to the end of

A string of random English words in a

the password. So, if this user made an

pattern that the user understands is also

account on Google, their password

good.

would be GoHor$313b@ttery39le. This

“When you take two words that have nothing to do with each other and put them together [such as] Cat2shovel,” Strubberg said. “Adding some number complexity. Uppercase C, uppercase

Having unique passwords for each

S. Start adding complexity. Uppercase,

website is one of the best ways users

lowercase, length of password is also

can protect themselves. If this practice

a big one. At least eight characters.

is followed and a user’s accounts is

Upper and lower case. Alphanumeric.

attacked, the information for that

Those are my always strong suggestions

account only will be exposed and the

system requires little effort to remember while being very secure. The user only has to remember the filler portion the algorithm that they use to come up with the unique portion.

In addition to having unique

Characteristics of Secure Passwords Complex

Unique

•

A mixture of both uppercase and lowercase letters

•

Not a word that can be found in a dictionary in any language (e.g., waterfall)

•

A mixture of letters and numbers

•

Inclusion of at least one special character, e.g., ! @ # ? ]

•

Not a dictionary word with some letters simply replaced by numbers (e.g., a1rplan3 or aer0plan0)

•

Hard to guess but easy to remember.

•

•

Should never be written down

Not a repeated character of series or characters (e.g., ZZZZZZ or 654321)

•

Not a series of keyboard characters (e.g., qwerty or asdf)

•

Not personal information (e.g., pet names, friends, address, birthday)

Long •

At least 8 characters

Unzipped 11

Features /

Secure Your Life

passwords for each account, it is also

one master password. Because of that, a

that you are. A piece of you that could be

important for a user to change all

user will only have to remember that one

used to authenticate. And it could also

of them on a regular basis. If a user

key, the one for the manager, instead

be something that you have. So it could

changes their login every few months,

of the login information for all of their

be a cell phone with a keyfob.”

it limits how long stolen credentials

websites. Users can then use incredibly

are useful to attackers. Passwords for

secure passwords for every account since

banking accounts and other high value

they can just input them into it.

accounts should be changed very frequently, around every couple of months. A users email account should be considered sensitive and protected with a very secure one since most websites send them an email to reset their account if they forget their password.

Because of this, attackers often target a user’s email accounts if they are trying to compromise one of their other accounts.

“Definitely read reviews of the software that you’re going to use before you do that,” Strubberg said. “It’s just a matter of finding one that’s safe, that’s reliable, that has good reviews. It’s all about security.”

In addition to password managers,

contain sensitive data, it is not necessary

having multiple layers of security is

to change their it as often. Often, once a

another great way to improve security.

year is a good expiration period for most

This multi-factor authentication system

accounts with non-sensitive data. Users

is currently being used by some websites

should also take into account how secure

today, such as Google.

their password is and change it more or less frequently based on that.

Another solution to this problem

are getting more advanced, new ways of securing systems are also being developed and improved.

“As soon as we come up with the next complex password, there are hackers

“It’s all about trust when it comes to security.”

trust when it comes to

However, for other accounts that do not

As computer and electronic devices

- Scott Stubberg

and crackers out there that are developing the next tools to get those passwords,”

Strubberg said. “So it’s a constant cat and mouse game that we’re playing with all the attackers out there.

Rather than requiring passwords to be more and more complex, other technologies are being added in addition as a replacement of them. There are

“Having multi-factors improves security because the hacker has to have multiple means of entering your

is a password manager. It is a piece of

network, not just having a username and

software that stores passwords in a

password,” Strubberg said. “Something

database that typically encrypted with

like your hand or your eye. Something

Devices such as the RSA SecurID are used in many two-factor authentication systems.

Fingerprint scanners can be used to authenticate in place of or in addition to passwords.

Picture courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons

Picture courtesy of centralpoint.nl

12 Unzipped

already technologies out there, such as

part,” Strubberg said. “If they use proper

the idea of security with your data can

fingerprint scanners, that might one day

social engineering techniques, they

only help our experiences as users,”

completely replace them or greatly affect

might be able to know that man that guy

Strubberg said. “Just talking about this

how we authenticate to system.

orders a lot of pizza. That may be his

and bringing this conversation to the

password or his security answer.”

forefront is a good idea.”

“My laptop has a fingerprint scanner,” Shaukat said. “It doesn’t work very

Even though authentications systems

well, but I mean if that technology can

are not completely secure, it is important

be improved, it’s a lot easier than a

for users to try and keep themselves

password and it is much more secure.”

secure as possible. They should keep up

Even with these new technologies, there will always be people out there

with the best practices of security and educate their colleagues.

that are trying to break into systems. It is

“We continue to train users to

very important to realize that nothing is

mitigate risks by training people in

completely secure.

Users are actually one of the biggest vulnerabilities of otherwise secure systems. Users can be tricked into

knowing what a

“I think it’s getting better and I think people are getting smarter about it and even institutions are getting better about it.”

giving their login

good password is, more complicated passwords,” Strubberg said. “I think it’s getting better and I think

- Scott Stubberg

information to a malicious website if it looks like the actual website that the user

even institutions are getting better

is going to. A user could even be tricked

about it.”

who is impersonating their bank.

“You can socially engineer your way

Facebook Facebook said that it was the target of an attack that targeted employees visiting a mobile developer website that had been attacked. The attack took advantage of a flaw in Java that bypassed its sandbox. No user data was reported to be stolen from this attack.

people are getting smarter about it and

into giving it over the phone to a person

Security Breach Victims of 2013

Continuing and evolving

Microsoft Microsoft was also compromised by the same Java venerability as Facebook. The attackers injected

conversations are paramount to internet

malicious code into an iOS

security.

developer website. No evidence of

into anybody’s computer for the most

“Creating more awareness around

Password Managers Password managers are a great solution for people who have trouble memorizing passwords. They store user’s login information for all the websites they use and help users log into

stolen customer data was found.

NBC In February, NBC reported that it had been attacked along with several of its websites being infected with the Citadel Trojan.

them automatically. In addition, many encrypt their password database with a master password, the only password that needs to be remembered.

Twitter In early February, Twitter’s systems

Popular Password Managers

were hacked and over 250,000 user

•

LastPass - lastpass.com

stolen data were usernames and

•

KeePass - keepass.info

hashed passwords.

•

Roboform - roboform.com

accounts were stolen. Among the

Unzipped 13

IPv6

The future of the Internet

By Travis Shivers

What is IPv6?

IPv6 is the latest revision of the Internet Protocol and will replace IPv4, the current version. The IETF, the Internet Engineering Task Force, first defined IPv6 in RFC 2460, which was published back in December 1998. Since IPv4 and IPv6 are different on a packet level, they are considered  two separate protocol stacks.

Why is it needed?

IPv4 only has an address space of

Connected Devices

Internet Users

20 Billion

nearly 4 billion addresses, and with

15 Billion

the number of internet connected devices growing exponentially, the

10 Billion

address space has recently been used up. IPv6 solves this issue by offering

5 Billion IPv4 Limit

a ridiculously larger address space to

0

accommodate for this rush of devices.

2003

2011

2016

Larger Address Space

Mobility

IPv6 has a 128-bit address space, which allows for around 340

Mobile IPv4 relies on the inefficient

undecillion addresses, compared to IPv4’s 32-bit address space of

practice of triangular routing, which sends

only around 4.3 billion addresses.

packets to a proxy server before being

340282366920938463463374607431768211456 Possible IPv6 addresses

IPv4 Address

IPv6 Address

172.16.254.1

2001:0db8:85a3:0042:1000:8a2e:0370:7334

transmitted to the actual destination. IPv6 makes mobile IPv6 as efficient as native IPv6 by eliminating this dependency on triangular routing.

IPsec

Jumbograms

IPsec, or Internet Protocol Security is a protocol suite that secures

In IPv4, packet payloads can only be

a communication session by authenticating and encrypting all IP

54,535 octets. IPv6 allows processing of

packet. Since it operates on the Internet Layer, it can protect any

packets over this limit called jumbograms

application traffic without requiring application to be specifically

which have a much greater limit of

designed to use it.

4,294,967,295 octets.

14 Unzipped

Packet Format In IPv6, the packet header and the process of packet forwarding has been simplified to be more efficient. The new packet design will be more consistent with the fundamental end-to-end principle of Internet design.

IPv6 Version

Payload Length

Flow Label

Traffic Class

Next Header

Hop Limit

Source Address Destination Address

IPv4 Version

IHL

Type of Service

Identification Time to Live

Total Length Fragment Offset

Flags

Protocol

Header Checksum

Source Address Destination Address

SLAAC

Multicasting

SLAAC, or Stateless Address Auto

Multicasting is a routing scheme in

Configuration, is a standard feature in

which a packet is sent to multiple

IPv6. It allows IPv6 hosts to configure

destinations in a send operation.

themselves automatically using when

In IPv4, it was added on as an extra

connected to an IPv6 network by using

feature, but in IPv6, it is part of the

the Network Discovery Protocol.

base specification. New multicast implementations. Embedding rendezvous point address in an IPv6 multicast group address.

IPv6 Adoption

Sources

Deployment of IPv6 has been rapidly

•

World IPv6 Day Logo courtesy of the Internet Society

increasing in the past year. Events such as

•

tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2460

the World IPv6 Launch have accelerated

•

datatracker.ietf.org/wg/ipv6/charter

its deployment by educating companies

•

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6

and consumers about the benefits IPv6

•

google.com/intl/en/ipv6

and about buying IPv6 ready devices.

•

worldipv6launch.org

According to Google, at the end of 2012,

•

arstechnica.com/business/2013/01/ipv6-takes-one-step-forward-ipv4-twosteps-back-in-2012

•

sosyalmedya.co/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IPv6-Nedir.png

•

circleid.com/posts/20121128_ipv6_a_2012_report_card

the IPv6 made up around one percent of internet traffic. This number is estimated to double by the end of 2013.

Unzipped 15

Borderless Networking Performance 16 Unzipped

Flexibility

Security

The Inside Job Every computer contains two parts: hardware and software. In the hardware side, each computer has processors, motherboards, and many other components which help it function as a whole. In the software side, there is the operating system.

Each operating system, also known as an OS, controls the entire computer including every program you run and every chip you own.

Each OS’s goal is to be friendly and easy to use. There is the widelyused Windows, the reliable Macintosh, and the free Linux. Which OS would you choose?

Story and Art by Arthur Pachachura Unzipped 17

The Inside Job Operating System almost exclusively for

What is Macintosh?

the past five years.

According to Apple Inc., the developers of the Mac, Macintosh is, “The world’s most advanced desktop operating system.”

Developed starting 1984, Apple’s with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and a mouse rather than a keyboard and a command line. advanced and creative operating system in existence. For most, Macintosh has always been the go-to OS for innovation

article site, held an online slideshow about the common features of many OS’s.

gave it to him on his birthday. Since Windows machine.

“I like the Macintosh simple user interface. I like the way that Apple has made its OS so simple and lightweight,” Thompson said.

For some, the Mac is both the most

InfoWorld, an online

Macintosh machine when his parents then, he has used his Macintosh over his

Macintosh is the first operating system

and creativity.

Thompson came across his first

a great success over their Microsoft counterparts. Though always considered

“Two of Windows 7’s most

Macintosh is far less used by the general population than other operating systems, but it is widely used in the art and music industries for its well-made, clear design.

The Macintosh Experience A regular Macintosh user, Hunter Thompson has used the Macintosh

18 Unzipped

open-source and more customizable.

“There was once a single person that wrote a single operating system,” Thompson said. “Then another operating system built onto that operating system.

That’s pretty much what computers have been doing for quite a while. I don’t see

Since the first Macintosh computer

- Hunter Thompson

Mac OS,” InfoWorld said.

If Thompson could change one thing about the Mac OS, he would make it

why Apple can’t do the same.”

was released, Apple’s computers were

“Two of Windows 7’s most touted new features are clearly based off Mac OS.”

touted new features are clearly based off

The Future of Mac OS

What is Linux?

Linux started in 1991 when a Finnish

the least customizable

student, Linus Torvalds, built a micro-OS

OS, Apple’s Macintosh

as a personal project to create a free

was the first with a

and public operating system. Since that

graphical user interface

launching point, millions of developers

and the first computer

all around the world have created over

to be considered ‘easy-

twenty unique operating systems.

to-use’ by most users.

“Apple sort of goes for user comfort rather than customizability since some

The Linux Experience

users are a little afraid of things you

Dylan Danzeiser, a sophomore at

can customize too much,” Thompson

LASA High School and a Linux interface

said. “That’s why you see Macs in lots

expert, tried Linux for his first time

of creative applications such as digital

during his freshman year of high school.

design. People even apply a custom skin

Now, Danzeiser is 16 years old and has

to make their computer look more like a

extensive knowledge of the Linux OS.

Mac.”

“My first experience with Linux was when I heard about this British microcomputer called the Raspberry Pie,” Danzeiser said. “The Pie is like a

really small $35 computer – it is so cheap

is proprietary to Microsoft, running

“It’s this amount of choice in an

it can’t even run the Windows operating

operating system that is one of the

common apps on a Linux machine can

system. When I got it, the operating

things that I really like about Linux,”

be a difficult task for the common user.

system that it ran was Debian, which is a

Danzeiser said, “If you don’t like what

version of Linux.”

this thing looks like, then you can find

From that, Danzeiser learned how to use a Linux machine and found it very similar to a Windows and a Mac in its

“Right now, I would not recommend Linux to your grandmother,” Danzeiser

something that runs better and works faster. The customizability of Linux is its greatest feature.”

to use Linux alone for several weeks.

“As soon as my computer got back, I decided: “I’ll install Linux on my

online about people giving it to their grandmother and it supposedly working.

interface and features. Then Danzeiser’s main computer broke and he was forced

said. ”Though there are videos

It’s not really that hard to learn, but you need to at least be open and not to be

Linux: Years of Success, Years of Problems

too scared of it.”

Linux has worked for many users

“I see two main downsides to Linux,”

in many fields already. According

main computer to see how fast it runs

Danzeiser said, ”The first is that it’s not

to Net Market Share, 94 percent of

on something larger that a 700MB

as user-friendly. Linux has made a lot of

supercomputers run some form of Linux

processor, cause that’s very slow,”

progress toward user-friendliness and

and a good majority of servers and

Danzeiser said.

there were a bunch of

Danzeiser said he finds Linux faster than his Windows machine, since a Linux can run on so little memory. One thing that he likes about Linux is that it has many options for themes and features, unlike Macintosh and Windows which both have only one theme.

“With Windows, you basically had two

companies involved in Linux that were trying to get it for the desktop

“The future of Linux is everywhere.”

user. But for anyone

- Dylan Danzeiser

that does not, at least, feel very comfortable with Windows, Linux is going to be kind of iffy for them. The second one is that nobody runs Linux and things like Microsoft Word and

choices,” Danzeiser said, “If you didn’t

practically every video game in existence

like transparency, you were kind of stuck

don’t run on Linux.”

with it. In Linux, there are hundreds of themes and all of them look different.”

Linux has tens of window desktop

Then only way to get programs, such

mainframe computers do, too. Also, every Android cellphone, dominating 61 percent of the global cellphone market, runs on a touch-

friendly form of Linux.

“I see that Linux is going to really expand to the global market because as computers get smaller and smaller, it’s going to get more and more likely that you’ll start carrying a tablet rather than a bulky laptop,” Danzeiser said.

as Microsoft Word, onto your computer is to run them in a virtual machine which

interface that are all look very different.

is a way of running Windows inside of

Some look and work like a Mac or

your Linux. Since formats such as .docx

a Windows machine, but some look

(the primary Word format) and .exe

completely different and unique.

(the format of all Windows programs)

What is Windows?

Windows, developed by Microsoft, is labeled the most user-friendly operating

Unzipped 19

Features /

The Inside Job

system. Windows development started

options,” Dell said, “you have the ability

obvious that normal keyboard and

in 1985 as a response to users’ growing

to modify software and run more

monitor pieces will become less useful. If

interest in Graphical User Interfaces

complicated programs.”

Microsoft could fix its problems, it would

such as Mac OS. According to Net Market Share, Windows holds about 92 percent of the desktop market share as compared with the Macintosh seven percent and the Linux one percent.

Windows, like Macintosh, is a pay-toinstall OS. Unlike Macintosh, Windows can be installed on almost any computer or device.

Since Windows has become so easy to use, it has also become the most used

Austin Dell has used Windows

viruses.

What’s Next?

“Although it is nice to have an easy time installing software,” said Dell, “this also means that viruses can infect your computer and slow it down. On my old PC, there were many could not access any software at all because a ‘security app’ said that

has also used the Macintosh and Linux

browsers, like chrome, were not safe.”

systems, but prefers Windows for its “Windows allows you to do a lot more things than the Mac OS,” Dell said.

According to Dell, Apple’s Macintosh

Windows: The Past and the Future “The most glaring problem with Windows is the ease for a virus to infect

not have the features and extensibility of

a computer,” Dell said. “On the other

the Windows machine.

hand, Windows is the easiest to use.”

According to Dell, if Windows could

Linux, is compatible with the most used

fix its security issues, then Linux and

file format: .exe, or Windows Executable.

other operating systems will become out

Since this file format is proprietary to

of date.

the Windows OS, no one else can run or modify the files.

“PC’s are used for gaming and have fast internet and more customizable

20 Unzipped

may be making an early appearance as of 2014.

- Austin Dell

“Eventually, home computers will be gone, as laptops are becoming increasingly popular along with tablets,” Dell said.

Apple’s desktop

market may be declining, but a new

is only an expensive web browser. It does

A Windows machine, unlike a Mac and

Windows 8.1, codenamed Windows Blue,

“If Microsoft could fix its problems, it would continue to be the most widely used OS.”

exclusively for the past five years. Dell

extensibility and ease of use.

desktop OS.”

OS. This familiarity comes with a cost:

moments when I

The Windows Experience

continue to be the most widely used

“I am not sure what the future of Windows entails,” Dell said, “as we continue in this era of touch screens and eye tracking, it is becoming increasingly

revolutionary design may change Macintosh forever.

“They probably will end up making a new tablet, just like Microsoft has done with the Surface Pro,” Thompson said.

Linux’s market share has already been increasing for many years in practically every market.

“The future of Linux is everywhere,” Danzeiser said.

The

Demise of Apple

by John DiCarlo

Unzipped 21

The Demise of Apple

A

year-and-a-half ago, Apple was a big

competition.

“Apple has lost its monopoly on the market.”

company and still growing

quickly. Then after Steve Jobs left, they started to

- Niels Kornerup

fall. Their stock fell 20

Most teenagers, when they are purchasing smart phones for the first time, aren’t choosing Apple.

“Apple has lost its monopoly on the market,”

points in 4 days before going back up. Now, Apple is a company that

Kornerup has had a Samsung HTC

teenager Niels Kornerup said.

is starting to lose in the flurry of the

EVO phone since 2012 and he really enjoys it better than the Apple devices that his family owns.

“I just own an iPod 4 and use iTunes,” he said.

While he has had a positive experience with them, he says he enjoys the Samsung much more. Kornerup isn’t

Devices Inspired by Apple Products Apple

Copy

Courtesy of vacacioneslagunasuite.com

Courtesy of androidphonephotos.com

Courtesy of therandomforrest.com 22 Unzipped

Courtesy of moselectronics.ru

the only person not choosing Apple any more. According to Forbes, In 2012 only 88 percent of iPhone owners were choosing iPhones as their next phone, down from 93 percent in 2011. This shows that other companies are able to

owns an iPhone, an iPad and an iMac.

Apple, also thinks Apple is still stable.

“They’re emphasizing competition, but there’s still a lot of people that use

“Apple has never had a better line of products,” Satterwhite said.

Apple,” he said. “I heard recently that

He says that the reason that Apple

more people that are changing from normal phone to smart

something but there’s

“Apple has never had a better line of products”

Apple is starting to lose in. Tablet

still a lot more people

- Jeff Satterwhite

sales are declining as well. According

using Apple products than other

to businessinsider.com, they have cut

things.”

take Apple’s customers and are doing better.

phones are using Android more than an iPhone or

It’s not just the phone market that

10-12 million iPad Mini shipments in the second quarter of 2013, because of competition, and they will lose money if they don’t sell the iPads. products instead of the competition. He

decline is because of poor public relations in the press. He also said that “if Apple announces what it is working on then everyone copies

them”. This is where Apple messed up.

According to Martinez, the reason Apple became big is because what they made were “Basically, [they’re] just new products that no one’s really seen

Teen Michael Martinez uses Apple

seems to be on the

before.”

He said that where Apple really took of was the fact that he “could draw anything [he] wanted on the computer”.

This was the Mac SE. However, the other companies started making computers

Jeff Satterwhite, a consultant for

that were similar.

Apple’s Stock Since the First iPhone A. Release of iPhone (original)

E. Release of iPad 3G

B. Release of iPhone 3G

F. Release of iPhone 5

C. Release of iPad

G. Current Decline

D. Release of iPhone 4S

E

F

G

D

A

B

C

Stocks Courtesy of Yahoo! Finance Unzipped 23

Features / The Demise of Apple This is exactly what happened. The

and different that everyone wanted,

earlier, Apple has cut tablet sales. But

competition produced the same things

shown by the fact that thousands of

the real danger for Apple is if a different

as Apple, so the ground was even until

people lined up at Apple stores to get

company releases something completely

one company comes out with something

it. But then the other companies copied

new and different. Then Apple will

completely innovative and new.

again with Windows coming out with

have to play the catch up game. This

All these speculations can be proven by looking into Apple’s past. In 1998, Apple released the iMac, a completely new device that everybody wanted because it was a computer and monitor in one. This lead to their stock splitting two-for-one in 2001 and in 2005 and they were making more money. But then, other companies started copying

the Windows Phone and

very similar to the iPhone,

“Now is probably the worst Apple’s ever been.”

so Apple’s stock was level

- Niels Kornerup

Android coming out with the Nexus 4, which are

until they came out with the first

iPad (see the stock graph on the previous page) and the cycle just kept on going, and it still is going.

is why Apple is in a very dangerous position right now.

Kornerup enjoyed Apple, but he thinks that “they’ve been on steady

decline since [the iPhone 5 came out] so now is probably their worst [they’ve ever been]”. Again, he says that this is

Apple. Microsoft released Windows XP

Right now, Apple is in the section

because “Apple has lost its monopoly in

in 2001, and as their stock shows, Apple

where they are going nowhere and the

the market” which is what happens to all

was going nowhere until they released

competition has caught up because the

of the companies that are falling towards

the iPhone, something completely new

newest thing is the tablets. As stated

demise.

Apple Stores

24 Unzipped

Then

Now

Image Courtesy of two4ever.blogspot.com

Image Courtesy of businessinsider.com

Windows Azure

Try it, you’ll love it. Guaranteed.

A rock-solid cloud platform for blue-sky thinking. See what you can do with Windows Azure. Get a free 90day trial at windowsazure.com.

Unzipped 25

The first computer with the ability to recognize human linguistic patterns and the first robot to participate, and win, in Jeopardy.

Watson is a system designed for answers. Let’s see what he can do.

Standard Jeopardy Question

The first person mentioned by

This is a standard Jeopardy clue in the tricky Jeopardy format. It is hard for a human to understand, let alone a computer. Why can’t a computer understand questions like we do?

name in ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ is this hero of a previous book by the same author.

101101110100100

Computers 110011101001101100 Today and, or, if

Nouns People

else, then, true The Goal: What is Human Speech a bank?

Financial Institution?

Edge of a River?

Computers today understand code and keywords, not nouns or verbs, let alone the relationships between them. Computers today cannot understand human speech.

What can Watson do?

Zoo

Places Dog

Things

Natural Language Ambiguity in Context Text to Speech

Human speech is ambiguous and full of complexity. So Watson consumes large amounts of information on as many topics as possible before it even gets near a game board.

1099511627776

3 seconds

8 The number of large refrigerators it would

100%

The data storage capacity (in bytes) of IBM Watson, equivalent to 4 Terabytes.

take to house Watson.

POWER7 The name of the processor used in IBM Wat-

son, also the most efficient processor to date.

2880 The number of processors it takes to power Watson.

The time it takes all the processors to answer a typical Jeopardy question.

The percent of Watson’s processors being used at any given time.

Watson can download up to 4 Terabytes of data, including the full text of Wikipedia, before each match. It then uses its 2880 core POWER7 to process the questions during the match.

How does he use this knowledge base to answer a question?

Standard Jeopardy Question

Step 1 question

The first person mentioned by

This is a standard Jeopardy clue in the tricky Jeopardy format. It is in the human language, Mask’ is this hero of a previousWhat kind of question is it? not something a computer can easily understand. book by the same author. name in ‘The Man in the Iron

What is it asking for?

First person name in ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ hero previous book same author

Analysis

Step 2

Hypothesis Generation

Step 3 Evidence Scoring

Question type?

hero in ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ also in previous book by same author

Person (Hero)

hero in ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ evidence for against

d’Artagnan

Puzzle Question

database

also in previous book by same author

hero in ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ also in previous book by same author

Step 4 Final Ranking

Kind of answer?

78%

contains evidence for and against hypothesis

Who isd’Artagnan?

Art by: Arthur Pachachura

Sources: ibmwatson.com; wikipedia.com; researchandmarkets.com

Now Watson looks through all the possible question arrangements and finds thousands of possible answers for each variation of the question.

From all the previous hypothesis, Watson scores all the answers based on the database downloaded before the match.

Now that Watson has his answer, he decides whether to ring in or not by a ‘Buzz 78% Threshold’ indicator, based on the risk of Buzz Threshold getting the answer right or wrong. If the confidence is greater than the threshold, Watson will answer.

Confidence Level

Times Buzzed In Buzz Accuracy Winnings Category Confid. $ Left on Table

At first, Watson does not know what kind of question he was asked, so he separates it into its parts of speech and sorts through all the possibilities of what the question may be asking for.

The future is in the cloud

Amazon EC2 Instant scalability Total resource control Consumption based billing http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/ 28 Unzipped