What is an ISP?

An Internet service provider (ISP), also sometimes referred to as an Internet access provider (IAP), is a company that offers its customers access to the Internet. The ISP connects to its customers using a data transmission technology appropriate for delivering Internet Protocol datagrams, such as dial-up, DSL, cable modem, wireless or dedicated high-speed interconnects.

ISPs may provide Internet e-mail accounts to users which allow them to communicate with one another by sending and receiving electronic messages through their ISP's servers. (As part of their e-mail service, ISPs usually offer the user an e-mail client software package, developed either internally or through an outside contract arrangement.[citation needed]) ISPs may provide services such as remotely storing data files on behalf of their customers, as well as other services unique to each particular ISP.

ISPs employ a range of technologies to enable consumers to connect to their network.

For users and small businesses, the most popular options include dial-up, DSL (typically Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, ADSL), broadband wireless, cable modem, fiber to the premises (FTTH), and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) (typically basic rate interface).

For customers with more demanding requirements, such as medium-to-large businesses, or other ISPs, DSL (often SHDSL or ADSL), Ethernet, Metro Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Frame Relay, ISDN (BRI or PRI), ATM, satellite Internet access and synchronous optical networking (SONET) are more likely to be used.

Typical home user connection

-Dial-up
-DSL
-Broadband wireless access
-Cable Internet
-FTTH
-ISDN
-Wi-Fi
-Typical business-type connection
-DSL
-SHDSL
-Ethernet technologies

www.wikipedia.com

Technology for disabled

Not many people know but at the start of the school year I took a job with a long time friend of mine who is disabled. When he was in the first grade he was diagnosed with Muscular Distrophy. I first met him when I was in 6th grade when the new middle school was built and all of the county elementary schools merged together for the 6th, 7th and 8th grade. Back then he was being wheeled around in a manual wheelchair and to get in and out of vehicles they had to pick him up and set him in the van. Througout the years his condition has progressed and has taken away more of his movement.

When I first met him I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what was actually wrong with him. I didn't know if he was mentally retarded or if he broke his leg and couldn't walk for a while or what. I first talked to him and found out his specifics. I found that he was a really nice guy and he was very happy to just live his life. He put no fault on anyone that he had this disease and that was very selfless. It took a while for him to open up to me fully because him being in a wheelchair he was shy. Throughout middle school we became very good friends talking about sports and girls and stuff. There were times where I got to wheel him to class.

He got his first power wheelchair in 8th grade and we thought it was awesome. It was so expensive and we use to push the horn button on it and it would embarass him but it was all in fun. They ended up having a lot of problems with his first power wheelchair and in the 10th grade he got his 2nd power wheelchair which he currently has now. In middle school he got his van that he has currently that has a lift in there that allows him to get in and out with the push of a button.

I think that it is great that technology has progressed so far that now they have vans that you don't even have to lower a lift or anything. If they had one of those vans he wouldn't have some of the trouble he has getting in and out. They also have vans that have driving control that have the brake and gas on the steering wheel. He doesn't have the arm strength to drive but if he did the technology is out there. I am all for the changing in technology not only to make work and pleasure of life easier but to make the life of one of my best friends easier and more fullfilling. This job has taught me a lot not only to value what I have but to how awesome it is to know how great of an attitude my friend has about everything and how important that is in life.

Military and Technology

Technology is changing all around us and that doesn't stop it from reaching the military. In fact the Military is one of the leader in technologies today. Just think if everyone around us is coming out with new and improved designs and were still using a 17th century musket I think we would be screwed.

One of the common example of the changing in technology when you compare sniper rifles. Back long ago the main sniper rifle was the Springfield. The Springfield could kill from a distance of 600 yards 3 to 400 effectively. Today the big bad sniper can shoot a lot longer. It can shoot over 2 miles and effective to a mile and a half. It broke a record for the longest shot kill.

Today the technology in weapons is so great that a team can get in do the mission finish the mission and get out and never have been heard because of the advancements in guns and silencers.

There is also something that we use which is a drone plane. The drone plane is unmaned and sent into dangerous parts maybe to lay down some bombs or in worse case a nucular missle. (Haven't had to do that for a while.) The drone is such a sleek design. It is amazing to me how a plane can fly without having anyone flying it in the plane. That is the definition of technology doing something that extrodinary and great.

I think that if they keep coming out with stuff then the United States will still be the strongest and most powerful nation that it is today.

Technology Before Sleep

A lot of times we put technolgy before sleeping. Whether were watching the Television or playing a gaming system. A good question is why do we do this. I thought hard about this and I think the answer is that people just feel like they don't need sleep. People feel like they can stay up till 5 in the morning playing video games and doing other things. I think when it gets to this point you have a problem. I got to this point this summer where I had to be at work at 8 and I wasn't going to sleep until 5:30 in the morning. I finally had to admit I had a problem.

Sleep is essential for a person to be healthy. Once sleep is taken out of the equation then you know that you really have a problem. I think that people that put technology before sleeping they really need to break that bad habbit. I thought of this topic because I am up at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning blogging when I could be sleeping. So this topic was as a result of me being awake on a Saturday morning doing school. I still think that if you game, watch tv, or do stuff with technology while you should be sleeping you might want to seek help.

The World of Gaming

I think it is fasinating how gaming has changed and/or evolved over the years. I was just thinking to myself how my last blog was about the changing of technology I felt I would go a little deeper in depth and talk about how gaming has changed.

I can remember when all we had to play on was the computer at my house. We never really had a so called "gaming system," but we had fun on the computer playing those games. Now we have all kinds of gaming systems. Sure at that time they had the original Playstation out and Sega had some system out but the first system I ever had was a bootleg Atari. It was fun to play but as I'm sure you know they were before my time so they were kind of outdated and the computer games were way better than that.

Then we had the Nintendo 64 and it was awesome. We played that thing so many hours and we had so much fun with it but there was no way we could play with our friends unless they came over to our house. Then I went to my friends house and he had the coveted original Xbox. They were able to obtain ranks by playing against people all over the world. I wanted one so bad. We finally got one at christmas time to play our favorite game Halo.

Then came the Xbox 360. The new game Halo 3 came out and we were unable to play it on the Xbox. So we saved and saved our money and me and my brother bought one. Only we could not play online because we had dial up because we live in the boonies. My dad finally broke down and got Verizon Internet so we could play online. Only bad thing about it was that it was 65 dollars a month and it had a 5gb allowance a month. So we would play one weekend with all of our friends up there and we would already be at 4.5gb usage. We recently got Ntelos DSL because they upgraded to the top of Iron Gate hill where we live but we only get 1.5 download and maybe 200 upload, but it has been worth it.

I know what your thinking what does this stuff have to do with the changing in gaming? Well we went from the Atari to the N64 to the Xbox to the Xbox 360. Changes from the original game of pong to now playing with friends and/or other people from countries around the world. It is cool to think about. Pretty soon there is going to be actual games where we can go inside and play them like that new movie Gamer. I am glad technology is still changing and I am sure the billions of gamers out there would agree with me.

Technology Illiteracy

Do you ever think about how many people are illiterate when it comes to technology? I sure do. I see it more in older people they have trouble working with computers and cell phones especially. Just last week I talked to my grandpa who lives in Buchanan and he was telling me he is taking a class at some community college every Tuesday night to learn more about computers. They just got a new one so he decided to sign up for this class to learn something. It is equivelant to ITE 115 at Dabney. He told me that he finally found someone dumber than him about computers. He said that some guy picked the keyboard up and was moving it around and the teacher asked him what he was doing and he said that he was trying to get the pointer thing to click on the internet. So from that you understand that some people are illiterate towards technology.

I think that we as the younger generation are not so illiterate towards technology because we grew up with the changing in technology. I think that the older people have trouble because they grew up without it so they didn't need it when it came about. I still like that some old people are trying to keep up with technology.