People who inspire me:

Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch was a Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Professor. He taught at the University of Virginia for nine years. He was also the co-founder of Carnegie Mellon’s technology center and got other important tenures. He was known as a brilliant teacher and a very well-known researcher who worked on various projects with Adobe, Google, Walt Disney, and others. Pausch was also known for his great interest in time management and how eager he was to find a way to make more time. In 2006, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and he had three to six months of good health left counting from August 2006.

In November 2007, Pausch gave a lecture about time management at the University of Virginia. Despite the 13 years difference, the advice and tips he gave during that lecture are still very effective and efficient for anyone who wants to learn strategies and techniques to make more things in less time.

● One of the points that caught my attention was his way of adhering the meaning of experience and I am quoting here “If things are not going well, that probably means you are learning a lot, and it will go better later” I agree on that, the latest example about that is the last programming assignment I was handed. While working on that, I complained a lot, but now that I know that I have successfully finished the homework, I get a feeling I want always to experience in every challenge and that is what keeps work harder every time.

● Another interesting and crucial piece of advice was about the necessity of using schedules, calendars whether paper or online versions to keep all deadlines and appointments registered. This way we do not need to spare any room in our brains for things we have paper or machines do for us. And to make the schedule even more effective, we can use the Covey’s four-quadrant TODO. Click here!

● One cool way to get ourselves off phones or other sources of distraction is to keep something we want to do next to us. And I am excited to try this technique.

● I was thrilled when I heard about the technique that I usually use to get work done on time: “Make a fake deadline”. This method not only keeps us be on time but also plays a critical role in creating more unexpected free time.

● Finally, the stamina Randy Pausch had along with his strong will to impact as many people as humanly possible was a great lesson for me. It is not considered as a new lesson, but a reminder for everyone to reflect on himself and see if he is still on the right track. It is NOT a must to follow Randy’s advice in detail, because everyone has his own techniques and methods, but always remember that if “You can dream it; you can do it”

Cloud Computing:

● Cloud computing is about accessing different stored services with the use of internet. These resources include data storage, servers, databases, networking, and software that can be both public and private. In brief cloud-based storage facilitates the process of storing files and enable remote accessing of these files.
● Cloud computing is not brand-new technology or one of its own, however it keeps developing great features which add efficiency and usefulness to its use, some of these features are:
- On-demand Self-service: It enables the user to monitor his cloud account and control its usage and other computing resources.
- Broad network access: cloud services are available over the network and can be accessed by diverse customer platforms.
- Resources Pooling: It gives multiple customers access and flexibility to the same services.
● The three major cloud service models are:
1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): a self-service model for managing remote data center infrastructures like physical computing resources, location, data partitioning, scaling, security, and backup.
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS): allows users to build and manage applications without worrying about the IT infrastructure (e.g. IDs). It can reduce management overhead and lower costs.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS): based on a subscription basis, it can be accessed from a web browser without any downloads.

● Some real-world applications of cloud computing: - Box.com or Dropbox (data storage and backup app): it provides an online environment for secure content management, workflow, and collaboration. It allows us to store different files such as Excel, Word, PDF, and images on the cloud. - Dell’s Secure Healthcare Cloud (Healthcare): “Cloud computing lets nurses, physicians, and administrators share information quickly from anywhere. It also saves on costs by allowing large data files to be shared instantly for maximum convenience. This is a major boost for efficiency.” - Paypal (business app): it offers the simplest and easiest online payment mode using a secure internet account.
● The economic basis of the cloud computing depends on many bedrocks like the number of customers and the load that they can cause whether on private, public, or hybrid clouds. Also, it also depends on the kind of performance needed by the users (domain and usage). And finally, the level of security required for providing a trusted and efficient model for users.

For more information about the models of cloud computing

For more information about the applications of cloud computing