Technology's Ambassador

My brother and I would argue about what we were seeing as Margaret Benyon's Tigirl changed each time we shook our heads. At least once a year as we were growing up, our grandparents took us to the MIT Museum, where our favorite exhibits included the holography collection, Arthur Ganson's kinetic sculptures (we loved the wishbone), and the strobe-light photography of Doc Edgerton, SM '27, ScD '31 (the bullet going through the apple never ceased to amaze us). And visiting gave my grandfather, Harvey Steinberg '54, then chairman of the museum advisory board, a chance to share his MIT stories with us.

Fast-forward a few years. I was taking a year off after my sophomore year at MIT and needed something to do. My grandfather suggested that I might be able to help out at the museum, which had just opened its Mark Epstein Innovation Gallery. So I ended up volunteering there several days a week from October to August.

I started by doing behind-the-scenes work, compiling research on new exhibits and assembling supplies for workshops.

But at the Friday After Thanksgiving (FAT) Chain Reaction, I got my first chance to interact with the public. FAT teams make Rube Goldberg-­inspired machines that are started by a pulled string and end up pulling the string of the next machine. One of the coolest parts for me was getting to meet the event's MC, Arthur Ganson, the creator of the awesome kinetic sculptures at the museum. I built a link in the chain myself that year (with some help from my brother) and have gone back every year since.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, we began preparing for the Rube Goldberg Competition for middle-school students that the MIT Museum cohosts each April at the Fay School in Southborough, MA.

We spent much of December ordering supplies and assembling kits; in January, we trained teachers from each participating school. As an MIT student mentor (each team gets one), I visited my team at their school and helped them plan. Although each team got the same task and the same materials, when I saw the machines in action in April, I was impressed by how different and creative each approach was.

That spring, I disassembled my first computer as part of the museum's "take-apart" event during the annual Cambridge Science Festival. I also got the job of playing with some recently obtained Lego MindStorms kits. Each kit contained basic Lego pieces, sensors, and a cable to connect the base to a computer so it could be programmed. Once I familiarized myself with the parts and the software, I helped write the curriculum for the initial MindStorms workshop, which the museum now offers regularly to school groups. (Fun fact: MindStorms' programmable bricks were developed at the MIT Media Lab.)

My summer at the museum was a ton of fun! We had a rotating schedule of drop-in activities: visitors could try out Lego ­MindStorms, inexpensive XO computers from One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a giant tornado machine, and activities in the DNA Learning Lab. In creating the OLPC demo, we visited the project's headquarters in Kendall Square and took apart a laptop (such as ThinkPad R60, ThinkPad T60, ThinkPad X60). It was a blast to play with cool stuff all day.

When it was time for me to return to school that fall, I wanted to share the museum with the rest of the MIT Community (free with MIT ID!). The night of registration day, we had a big party with ice cream, music filled with bad science puns, and construction projects involving toothpicks and Dots candy.

As a student again, I still visited the museum frequently to escape the stress of the semester. For the 2008 Cambridge Science Festival, I took a break from working on my 2.007 robot to stand at the museum's booth for an hour and explain what a phenakistoscope is (it's an early animation device based on the principle of persistence of vision). I then helped families make their own. And during IAP 2009, I helped create a giant geodesic dome, first in Lobby 13 and then again in the MIT Museum. It was large enough to lie in!

Volunteering at the museum gave me great opportunities to develop my skills at working with the public and explaining technical information. The place I visited regularly growing up is now filled with many more memories.

Find More Airforce Technology Articles

India?s Information Technology?s Worldwide Advantage

India’s IT industry has become highly progressive and advanced which is capable to offer complex application development at low-cost. In the present period of uncertainty and turbulent situations, software development in India is now more lucrative than ever before. There are numerous factors in this period that can ensure you get really cheap software increase in India without interfering with software package development process and software program itself.

According to Nasscom, in 2011-12 India recorded US$ 70 billion earnings that led to more than 20 per cent growth rate. In addition, low-cost and high-quality are the fundamentals that Indian native IT industry religiously uses. Therefore, India’s advantage can be assessed that despite slowdown and regression, Indian IT industry registered such a phenomenal growth rate.

Thus, how can you take India’s advantage plus your enterprise truly global and profitable? Well, it is easy; initially you need to search for a software progress company India that offers foreign IT services.

This is the roughest part, as it requires lot of time, patience and comprehensive knowledge of your needs and requirements. Thereafter, you’ll need to look for such an offshore software development company India that will offer you exactly what you need and at the same time offer you the best bargain between all.

At present, Rupee is devaluating making dollar expensive therefore the application development company India groups are capable to garner substantial profits. However, if you’re searching Offshore Software Development Firm India then you can ask for further reduction in cost. These companies won’t shy way while bargain in contrast they will be willing to transfer their own extra profit. In this way, you could expect high-cost-efficient software development deal without even compromising on requirements.

In addition, global slowdown can an additional be reason to further require cost cutting but seeking unreasonable and unrealistic charge could land you in phony deal or get you unproductive software product. However, with vast research you can find the minimum level of cost that a computer software service provider can offer you.

Immediately after finding the best software service provider, you will need to finalize deal. Here you need lot of care to understand facts and also you have to go through commitment details meticulously. While doing contract, try to negotiate all of the terms and conditions, and keep all phrases close-ended. But do keep ample space for change in commitment to enable smooth functioning in addition to execution. If you keep you contract tight and stubborn then you will also not be able to perform changes in contract because of alternation in circumstances or technologies or some different.

Lastly, try to go through the recommendations and portfolio of the supplier, and if possible try to contact its clients to check if they’re capable to offer you services that you desire. If your application development company is new start-up then subsequently try to go through the organization, culture and the portfolio of the people managing the organization. This will assure you the highest quality software development solution.

Leverage Java technology?s benefits on Web

Java, a programming language or an upgraded technology from Sun is highly beneficial and improved by passing time. From its initial stage it really does help IT community to work out wonders using it but now with its add-ons, improvements it is highly preferable for endless opportunities for development. Not only do we use it for programming but now we are free to use it for mobile and web development too.

It is a language that can be learned easily as it was meant to be like that when it was created. The creator had a single focus to make it a user-friendly platform that enables easy writing, coding, debugging, compiling or learning. It’s a myth that all programming languages are difficult to learn and write. This one is not and is based on object orientation. Being object-oriented the platform enables development of modular products and for this developers need not repeat the code.

A great benefit mostly liked by developers and users both is its independent nature to work across the platforms.

It enjoys the capability or we can say freedom to move around in any system as per the user’s desire. This is what we say a true benefit as all of us really wish to run the same program on various systems. This feature is very crucial in WWW software and Java enjoys the top position by having achieved such success.

Again it is very easy to use, write, compile, and code and allows building world-class solutions. Security features in Java enables developers to offer its clients with feature-rich applications with maximum safety. Java development, Java application development or Java development in India is highly increasing due to these advantages.

Web advantage is a main reason recently added to be the main cause of this rise in demand of Java development.

We know and have studied that more educational firms are accepting Java as their compulsory curriculum. This powerful and flexible language has certainly captured the minds of world-wide developers due to its numerous benefits. Also people have put in endless informative resources so that people, students and developers gain more awareness of this platform. Free stuff can also be a good option to learn this language and develop useful products.

Refine your resources and source out the useful ones for leveraging all the benefits of Java. Necessary things to find for Java development is the latest versions of JDK, J2SE etc in relevance to your needs. Those who are fresh towards this programming initiative can explore online beginner’s tutorials or textbooks. These educative programs can make you understand how Java is beneficial for your needs and can let you with simple development.

When it is something you want to use and require someone to develop for your enterprise then there is no better option than outsource Java development. Any company proficient in Java, JavaScript, Java architecture, VC++, J2EE, J2MEE, CORBA, XMLetc can work out for you. When it is your business I think you are more concerned about security features. Well! You get 100% security features for your solutions with Java technology. Frameworks, architecture, systems, servlets or modules can be developed using this technology. Applets are also “in” these days like JavaMail used for messaging and mailing applications.