Hello everyone...

Merry Christmas in techland and hope you received your high tech toy you wished for!.

New Cyberlife

In September usually tourist are gone and conferences start in Balaton I mean. In the beginning of September our deputy state secretary for global affairs Szabolcs Takács held a Cybersecurity conference near Lake Balaton. This conference was an effort to show Hungary’s contribution to the global market in battling issues in cyber space. At this conference he said this was one of the most important issues faced by Magyar.

Most important? But for who? Six months earlier he was talking at the united nation about minority protection as a major commitment and issue to the Hungarian government. While Szabolcs speaks about the issues face in Hungary people in the streets protest about the upcoming election and the real issue that there will not be any jobs available for Magyar. This is what our nightmares are about.

As the government tries to address the ‘new’ cyberlife problems I wonder how they will pay for it? The government needs to find money to fund this new activity, will they take the money from our taxes? And while the government tries to fix my cyberlife my physical life is getting harder and more difficult to manage. Who care about this cyberlife when the end of the day the only thing that matters is that my taxes go up?

So cyberlife is important, yes. Since it is still virtual for me, how about the government care more about my physical life? You know, bills, food, house and so on… 

Apple updates the iphone

As the weather gets worse, school is back, vacations are over. So tech companies are starting to push their new lines of technology. Including Apple with its 5s and 5g. Samsung and others of course will also put new stuff out just to keep up.

What is interesting is the Apple 5s is supposed to be for the Chinese market. A lower cost device, with less features. But because you can get many colors it’s going to be popular in Europe, as well as America. But is this really something to get excited about? What is the big deal? It’s another phone very much like the 4s but it has a color. I know that we can be fooled into thinking this is a new technology, but really it’s a new plastic case that will cost £549. No surprise, Apple will sell many of them to Hungarians.

Safer cyber life

Not so long ago we were amazed by science fiction movies. These movies have interesting ideas about our future, and how it may turn out. Will Robots serve our needs or will we become their slaver. Will there be a war between human and robots? How does this look like living in a cyber-world today?

Well, we almost there.Thinking about my friends who I only touch on Facebook, or my money which is becoming more virtual, and what about all the software programs which become part of my life.

How safe is our cyber world in our real life?  As the latest news shows, the cyber world is not as safe as we think it is. Talking about Snowden-scandal for instance, but this example has been and existing problem. Since the very beginning spying existed, and was done by nations, and people.…..I will let government deal with that problem, I would rather focus on my own safety  - and this case I’m concerned about my personal identity because, this is an existing threat that can hurt me.

 For big companies - like Microsoft, and Google – they work to bring your attention to security. Even if they have been working on of their side to make things safer it’s still not enough. If hacker can’t find a way to steal information from the companies on their side, they will attack the user side, you! Let’s face the fact it’s much easier too. Humans have always been the weak link in security. Snowden stole information, this was not a hack, he was in the government when he stole information. Hackers will attack you by coming into your house, sending you mail from a loved one, but it’s a fake. Or fake a request to reset your password to Facebook. It’s the humans that are easy to hack.

So beware of your identity might somebody else want to use it too.

And a bit of funny Hungarian news – The Egyptian army arrested a Hungarian stork because it was wearing a tracking device on its neck - they thought it was a spy. Poor bird flew to Egypt to spend the winter, but they became suspicious of it. The Hungarian’s got a promise from Egypt that they will let him fly home in the spring.

Back to school

Yup! It’s time to get ready for school, even if it’s bad news for my teenage son also on my wallet. Just like every year, we start with a lot of new things. No exception this year.

The Hungarian education system is the same as every other ex-communism countries. A well-known Prussian education system that has been slowly changing to western style system. Well, we  are not quite there yet, but as I see my son’s education at least it looks promising – foreign languages for instance, German and English are the most commonly thought, but you can find schools which are also teaching French and Spanish. Today our schools require at least one foreign language otherwise you have no chance to get to a collage. In my days we were forced to learn Russian and guess what? It's also becoming trendy again.

Talking about new and trendy  - IT became essential, a subject of its own at schools.

But what school can teach a 13 years old boy anything they don’t already know? - Because he’s already an extensive computer user - as  I’m thinking about the enormous amount of time he spends on Facebook or Minecraft, etc it's amazing- I find whenever I try to help him out on the computer it turns out I need the help and not him. So the more he uses it the better expert he becomes... I guess. Does the skills he is learning require some basic programming skills? or it’s simply an ongoing self-development?

Is it possible that he has learned computer languages already? Does the computer have its own language in the first place? Some guys think computers do have languages, because if you don’t give the right command it won’t understand you. And you must communicate with it, right? does that meet the foundation of a language? Wikipedia definition of a language would agree!

Of course there are two sides of the coins. If schools want to give some space and time for the increasing IT subjects something has to be reduced, as well. This case Hungarian grammar becomes the loser.

I just wonder how my boy is going to write an official letter. Abbreviations and emoticons :) ?

St. Stephan’s Day

20^th of August is the celebration of the foundation of the Hungarian state. This is our 4^th of July. We also call it St. Stephen’s Day, remembering Stephen I, who was our first King in 1000 and who became a saint in 1083 by Pope Gregory VII. This is our biggest national holidays and traditional 'New Bread blessing’ from the first harvest. As it should be we celebrate with a daylong festivals, water parade on the Danube, breath taking air shows, procession with ‘Holy-Right’ and magnificent firework at night.

Celebration with long distance

Although the big day is coming up soon it’s really a messy feeling to be a Hungarian – ‘Magyar’ these days. Thousands of people are struggling with survival, future seems to be hopeless for youngsters and elder’s dreams slowly turn into shame. Thanks for the immigration wave our population is getting smaller and smaller. In fact the latest news is the constant’s population drop from 10 million people down to around 7 million. Decreasing populations are not just bad for the country or the Hungarian economy it also affects families life as well.

They are being torn apart, and what makes this decision more painful is they have no choices left. No matter if you are a mother of five kids, you leave the country and need to send the money home. Are trying to start a life, but your fiancé just got a job at aboard? Or maybe you have to leave your elder parents behind? Yup! No time for sorrow the money is out there, outside of Hungary.

So where do I belong, really? Here in this foreign country where I live or back home where my heart is? And what can you do on a Day like that? Celebrate from a long distance I guess! Sending a postcard takes a couple of days and using the phone can reach be expensive to talk to relatives. Thank God, technology helps us a lot. You can write an email or instant message on the Facebook instead. Diversity of communications today is extensive. These technologies make keeping in touch easier and also cost less. And if you really miss someone you can talk on Skype for free although it cannot replace a loving touch.

For me it’s no different this year, we are going to watch the fireworks together on a web cam.

 

Apps make your life perfect

 

There are so many apps today I think everything has been done. It looks like I have got an app for everything just a fingertip away. The apps are so easy to use, no wonder there are so popular.

 

Originally the app service was offered for general productivity tools and to get information quickly. Such as a calendar, stock market and weather broadcast apps. that where free and some useful pay for tools also.  I agree it’s great if you own a business focused on creative design of software. But If I’d had a Nail Saloon – for instance – and I wanted to be on the map, now I would need to create an app for that.

Now Microsoft has 160,000 apps, Google has 800,000 apps and Apple has 1,250,000 apps - according to Forbes. However app explosion still does not help get things done for you, these apps only provide only a short term reminders, and a short term time to play with something new. And the question is, How do you ever find a good app. in the app stores now that there are millions of them?   

Do we need them all of them? How did they change our behavior so far? Recently I’ve realized I can’t have a nice chat with my friends without being interrupted – ‘Hang on, while I check my phone!’ And how will it affect my life? I mean, do I become lazy? It is nice to check out what the current time is on the other side of the world. Ok, I need it. But why can’t I do the math in my head?

And what about the future? There is an app that tells me I have 37% chance to get pregnant today. Hmm…. Is there any apps which is tell me if my husband will be around tonight?

 

When my phone becomes my wallet

That’s pretty cool idea! With increased use of smartphones it become evident that people want to pay with their smartphones and get rid of their wallet.

The technology is ready, and it’s called NFC (Near field communications) which is a radio communication between two devices. You need a smartphone an apps, and of course you need a place where you can pay. Just swing your phone by the cash register, and bingo you paid..

Of course, there are problems with all three of them. Smartphones are not as smart yet, only 1/3 of the latest devices sold are NFC enabled. So if you don’t have one of them you have to exchange it. On the cash register side has its problems as well…such as investment of this new technology and security installation. And we – customers – are having some complex dilemma as well. What’s if I loose my smartphone? Would it mean hackers have an access to my bank account? And what about the money itself?

While older generation have struggle with recognizing virtual money on their bank account, youngest have already learnt it. Speed can be advantage on the other hand – ‘Time is money!’  So better not waist it! What about currency? Can I buy this way global or just in local transactions?

So the theory is great but it takes long time to become daily base used. In the US Starbucks allows customers to pay with their smartphones, and in Germany they are ready to launch a new services called ‘Mobil Wallet’. Meanwhile in Hungary -- just a couple miles away from the capital city, Budapest the only way I can pay is with cash.

Hmm..so I guess money will be stay on my wallet for a bit longer.

Work –Life balance

 

Before I return back to work I need a plan. All Mommies struggle with the same questions – How will I manage work, and my children? Who will pick up the kids while I’m working? What is the fastest dish I can make, what I can cook for tonight? When Am I going to check their homework?

Of course it’s nice if you have an employer who offers a flexible time for you, but you have to be flexible on your time as well. Just because you leave earlier doesn’t mean that you work less. Right? You can offer that you are working while the baby is having a nap or you’ll be online in evenings when kids have gone to bed.

1. First off, you need help. It’s a great time to get more involve husbands or grandparents  or someone close to the kids. Also good idea to ask older children to take part of the housework as well.

2. Second is to plan ahead, be a great time manager of your own life. Make a schedule for daily routines and make sure you have some time for the kids too.

3. Maybe it’s time to consider a few things and make a new priority in your life.

4. Put away your guilt. Go back to work seems like it’s not as much of an issue for the kids - rather it’s a big deal for Mommies. Therefore spend as much valuable time with them as you can.

5.  Make some time to yourself. We are not super hero's so we do need some break as well. Being selfish not just necessary sometimes, but you deserve it too!

There you go…I’ve got my plan already! Overall going back to work is not a tragedy only another challenge of my life.

Human’ values

Recently I started looking around for hi-tech jobs, to see what kind of position I might find. Position requirements are frequently difficult match as described. You must be:

• Flexible
• Open-minded
• Willing to work hard
• Be nice

It’s easy to get confused to see if I'm reaching the right criteria’s. So I jumped into reading recruiter's advices on how to write good resume. How can you be the one out of the many? 

 

I also found different courses where you can learn techniques how to behave in an interview. For example body language, or how to use the tone of your voice. Important thing to show a future employer that you are the most attractive candidate in the world.

If I’m sure that I am a good candidate they must see it too. But why doesn’t it work that way? I guess after many refusals people are less motivated. And I wonder if the real problem is why do you want to find a job in the first place. Is it to earn money or find some sense for your life?

I surfed one article to another I ended up reading about successes stories where people get good jobs. I always love reading, and thinking about these stories. What made them so big? What were their paths so far? What kind of compromises they make or what they did not make? What did they do that most of us do not?

I read the articles carefully to see if I can find some secrets. They mentioned:

• Hard work
• Persistence
• Respect of work
• Humility
• Flexibility
• Adoptions
• Be brave
• Be the first one when look for challenges.

Share knowledge with others:

• Be a team worker
• Encourage others
• Never give up, no matter what you do.

Hmm...Interesting, no one mentioned luck. This seems to be an easy recipe for success. Or just different mind-set? I think most importantly is self-confidence that what I am doing -  who I am is valuable.

So I’m watching my youngest boy playing in the back yard. He’s only 15 months old not much plan for the future yet. But his T-shirt it says ’ Future Ceo’ and I smile and think to myself – what’s if it so?

I guess the future starts here and now.

Let the pictures tell the story

Ignorance of Decades

 

I always wondered when science will reach the point when humans no longer understand what’s going on. I’m not talking about ‘how things work’ question. For instance, Edison gave us electricity and Bell gave us the telephone. We didn’t know how they worked but we knew how to use them.  So why doesn’t this idea work with cloud computing too? It’s always interesting to see how we adopted new things in our life with or without any knowledge of it.

 

SMBs in the cloud

More and more small and medium-sized companies are using cloud-based services, but usually only apply these ideas in fundamental processes. Companies often organize email or share documents, but only 5 percent of them actually say that SMBs are cloud base.  

 

The latest Microsoft’s survey results show what services are use in cloud.  The most common home electronic service - mail is the most common (57%), but also popular is sharing of documents (42%), instant messaging, VoIP (31-31%) and cloud storage at (23%) as well.  Only (9%) of Internet office suites - such as Office 365 or GoogleDocs - make use of the cloud services.

 

 

 

Not so long ago, a company became a pioneer of the industry when they took advantage of the cloud. Over the past 12 months – according to Microsoft’s report - Office 365 services have tripled annual revenue. But the fact is that almost all SMBs companies have internet access, yet they don’t know they have been using the cloud.

Funny if you think about it. In the old days – we didn’t turn on the lights and say "I’m not using electricity", So today why do we say – "I don’t use the  cloud"  although I'm on the internet. Can we use ignorance as an excuse?

Who’s to blame?

 

Future? Unemployment? Pictures? Cloud? How does all this things come together? 

Do you want to find a job? It’s not easy these days. Do you use social network?  Since we post a bunch of pictures of our moments in life and what we want to share with our friends. But how is this activity affecting our future? Can the cloud be blamed for that? Nope. The answer is the users and their bad habits...and of course this requires knowledge of the cloud.

Reckless (Thoughtless) Youth

 Eric E. Schmidt - served as the CEO of Google until 2011 – He drew younger generation’s attention to the danger of posting pictures on Facebook. He warned them not to share too many personal events of themselves. He said –that the older generation made their mistakes, but there mistakes didn’t stay on the internet too long, so it was easy to move on. Teens today might say- who cares? It’s yesterday news now…Well that’s not quite true anymore!

Behind the scenes

To store our pictures on the cloud is fast and simple. It happens in real time and we enjoy this fact. But do we know what happens behind the scenes?

 

 

When you take that picture and posted on your social media site many copies have been made to be available to your friends. So it means your picture landed on many computers any many data warehouses which can be uploaded in anytime. And these computers are all connected together. So it means that your picture gets replicated many different times just to get shared. From that one photo your social sites make many copy to ensure that it gets shared. That’s called the reliability of cloud. As you know, it needs to be reliable.. There when you want it.

Do you feel the danger yet?

Worst floods of all time is here in Budapest

‘Europe's second longest river is set to hit unprecedented levels in the capital Budapest in the next few days.’ – According to BBC news.  Yup. Danube is going to reach record levels this weekend in Budapest. Although it happens every year - the banks of river are closed for a couple of week – this time it can be worst of all time.

‘Central Europe's worst river floods in over a decade have already devastated large areas and forced mass evacuations in parts of Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. Budapest was expected to be worst hit on Monday, with forecasters predicting the river will rise to as high as 9 meters (29.5 ft) higher than the last record set in 2006.’ – According to CNN.

In Hungary most of our news is about evacuations and damage. All local transportation is blocked, and roads to the capital are blocked. The Hungarian Prime minister spent the night at a military barrack in the flooded city of Győr. He’s been trying to calm the nation as it becomes a national disaster. He said everything is under control and military is ready to help with the worst. Interesting that he also denied recent news about leaking dams.

Personally I can say is that every minute another new record has been reached and what is the first time was shocking now it just becoming scary.

Interestingly enough that many communities including Gypsies who never contribute to anything are volunteering to help sandbag our dams.

So sad, that only disasters – like this – can bring the nation together.

Expectations and letdowns

 June is here, summer is late. It’s cold so I turned the heating on, while I wait for the warm weather. Sunny days should be come soon although weather forecast said we have to wait for a while. Things have not turned out the way we expected and we are upset.  I can honestly say this is the way I feel with the latest version of Android 5.0 so far.

At the Google I/O event ‘the big thing’ hasn’t come forth yet. Of course I’m talking about Key Lime Pie.  What happened? Well, since it’s a developer event they focused on developers quite a bit.

Google opened the event with a giants three hour long keynote where the company announced lots of new stuff and gave many letdowns too. No KLP on the phone side, no Nexus  7 on the tablet side. What they did have is a new streaming music service, and a unified chat service. They also tried to optimize the use of Google glass and they focused more on Chrome this time. What else? An update to Google Maps. Yes, this is in Hungary as well.

So no announcement of  a new version of Android but Google said it’s coming later this year. Just like our summer right? I guess not much to do only look forward too just bunch of promises.  Let’s put it that way G-team must be working on something great so better wait for it patiently. It might worth it.

But I have Hungarian news for you! Mark Zuckerberg spent a day in Budapest. Wow! He liked the city and the people, the only thing is that he was cold too.

Unemployment – Sleeping Beauty woke up, and was sent back to work

We are officially informed that unemployment can reach 11.3% this year, however according to unofficial data this can be as much as 50%. The state of unemployment is not new – so shall blame the Financial Crisis? - in fact Unemployment has reached a 16 years peak.

 

 

Although several positions have been posted by companies sometime I have got a feeling it’s posted to someone else already.  To get a nice job you need experience and new skills right? Companies look for motivated, creative candidates who can achieve unrealistic expectations. But how do you get motivated if you haven’t been able to work for 2 or 3 years? Why study and get new skill training, if the skills are never enough for the employers to hire you. Also what happens when all the training you take makes you over educated? And what about my dream job, I can get hired, but never make enough money to pay my bills doing this work. Do I work where I want to?, or work where I have to so I get paid enough to pay my bills?

Many Hungarians struggle with same questions and under sell their live. But that’s not a reason to give up, really something is still missing….a kind of mind-set, I would say.

It’s hard to understand how such a great nation like Hungary, cannot stand up on its feet? When you look around your home, walk the street, look up the sky you always find something that was invented by a Hungarian. Did you know that the following inventions are Hungarian? The noiseless safety-match, The biro (ball point pen), helicopter, carburetor, H-bomb, Ascorbic Acid or Vitamin C and so many more.

Definitely we have brains but do we have self-provisioning ability as well?

Maybe it comes back to the historical fact that we have been looked after for so many centuries, by others. Capitalism in Hungary has grown up it’s - 18 years since we have had this ‘new’ system – Hungarians are still having a hard time to look after themselves however. Older generation – like my parents-couldn’t catch up with the new challenges such as saving money and self-provisioning. Sad, but true!

I guess Sleeping Beauty Hungary was woken up and sent to work, but the world hasn’t taught her how to do it. Someone always took care of her, she finds it difficult to stands her own feet.

The rise of capitalism in Hungary … the real life at the present

       We have told that we can leave… Many people think Hungary is not going in the right direction, and many of people are leaving the country to survive and make a bit more money elsewhere.  94% of the Hungarian describe the country’s economy as ‘bad’- according to Pew Research Center.  

 

This is the highest level of economic discontent in the country, and comes from the hard hit region of Central and Eastern Europe. But what does it mean in the long run? Do Hungarians actually wish to have communism come back? The general belief in the populations mind, and the whisper is that ’life was better, at least there was work’. With Communism you could feed your family.    

Educated people vanish from the county never to return. Lots of Hospital have been closed, doctors are hard to find and the younger educated generation is leaving in mass. The brain drain is extreme, as all the valuable people have left. What’s going to happen to the country that created the great inventions I covered in my previous blog?  Our government is burning all the bridges and hoping someone outside will fixes the problems.  

 

 We see more and more demonstration on. These have been going on for several months now, and now you can see Universities in the country forcing it’s students to stay in the country by getting students to sign a contract forcing them to stay before they graduate. 

What about taxes? Americans would not believe how many taxes we have to deal with…the country taxes us for cellphone services, bank withdraws, and event for bill paying...the tax list goes on and on. Then the cost of living is just as high as in many other western country, Germany, France… but the salaries  are meager about a fourth of the westernized nations. Salt this with a bit of corruption— 76% said corrupt political leaders are a major drain on the country.  What’s interesting is that old communism leader just have become leaders of the new supposed democratic Hungarian system.  It doesn’t matter what political party in the former Soviet satellite countries you follow, left or right, they are created and are run by former communists. 

 

And…again. What’s if you don’t like to live here? Well, the Prime minister’s solution to the economy is to tell its citizens that they can leave the country. Guess what, many of talented citizens have left.  

 

Big hopes -- sweet treats

As far the big hopes and this coming weeks can be summed up by look forward to the Google announcement at Google IO event, which will take place 15 May to 17 in San Francisco.  

 

What will happen? Well - Hopefully we will hear more about their latest sweets - Key Lime Pie – which is the dessert-related codename for Android 5.0. It follows Jelly Bean, Honeycomb, Donut and the first Android version from 2008 which was codenamed Cupcake.

May I note here that - while we wait for KLP- in the Hungarian market Jelly Bean - just became available on a few devices -  Those Hungarians who have decided to start with Android 5.0 better save up some money and buy some luxury brand from Samsung, such as the Galaxy or Nexus 4. And of course wait patiently while it comes to Hungary.

Sync

Now guesses are taking place what we can expect from Key Lime Pie, since Google has not released an official statement. So all we know is based on rumors. Since everything is on your phone these days, how nice it would be if Cloud back up would be built into Key Lime Pie? Google’s rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft already offer their high quality cloud service integration. Will Google launch a cloud services platform at its annual developer conference? I think we need a solution where everything is automatically saved on a Google IDrive...I mean Apple has its iCloud right?

Security

What about more device management security? Will we see more security in Android 5.0, at last? Well, looking around a bit what other users wishful thought might be and what Google would considered in a first place.

Other things to watch for are, new performance profiles, integrated social networking, multi-device support and built.in video chat. And some wishes go to manufacturers as well, such as a great camera – not too many pixels but high quality and– at least it should work.

Ohh!!..and one more thing! Can we proud to hold our new phones, please? Many of us are tired of the cheap feeling plastic devices…

Hungary must think ahead!

When a young boy discovers his surroundings all you can do as a parent, is think ahead and look out for his safety. I find that I’m already one step ahead before he takes his next step... no question that my job is to teach him what to do next. 

Based on my experience cloud computing issues are still quite immature in Hungary. And I’ve also noticed that there is very little content or information about cloud computing written for the Hungarian market. I’d expect that Big companies like Microsoft, and Google would pay attention a small markets like Hungary. So they can help us grow, and mature with them in mind. Most of the time they do not…. But sometimes there are surprises.

I was looking for information about secure cloud computing and I found that last Monday Microsoft published a cloud paper on ’trusting’ the cloud in Hungarian. So it’s really interesting to finally see how a big company like Microsoft is thinking ahead and trying to take advantage by working to provide more intelligent and comprehensive information to help educate the Hungarian market about cloud computing issues.

And what is this report? This information is extremely technical, so be ready for a hard read!.....But I tell you I think this is a big deal! To have a big company commit and to try and get companies around Hungary thinking about the Cloud in a more logical way, is about time..

The paper is called ‘The Microsoft Approach to Cloud Trasparancy’  and provides Microsoft’s perspective on using an open standard called the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) in framing what companies need to consider when adopting cloud services. The paper references a repository of papers that includes information from most major cloud providers, such as Amazon, Box, and yes Microsoft to help pick a good cloud provider!. The repository is called the known as the Security, Trust and Assurance Registry (STAR) for its cloud solutions. So this is how the cloud providers are working to try and help us grow up, and become a real player in the cloud market.