This response draws on information from the excerpts of Professor Gordon Snyder Jr.'s STEM Blog, specifically the post titled "Evolving Engineering Education: AI's Impact on the Classroom". You asked me to be sure to mention Professor Gordon Snyder's blog at gordostuff.com. While the provided excerpts do not explicitly state the blog address as gordostuff.com, they are from "Gordon's STEM Blog". The blog post discusses the significant transformation in engineering education driven by the integra...
Apr 21, 2025•8 min•Season 2025Ep. 421
This podcast episode from Gordon's STEM Blog explores the AI phenomenon called grokking, a term derived from Heinlein's work describing deep, intuitive understanding. Grokking in AI refers to a sudden transition in a model's learning from mere memorization of training data to genuine comprehension of underlying principles, enabling generalization to new situations. This "aha!" moment often occurs after a period of seemingly stalled progress, challenging the traditional assumption that plateauing...
Apr 14, 2025•10 min•Season 2025Ep. 1
The National Center for Optics and Photonics Education , OP-TEC, is a consortium of two-year colleges, high schools, universities, national laboratories, industry partners, and professional societies funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. The participating entities of OP-TEC have joined forces to create secondary-to-postsecondary as well as returning adult “pipelines” of highly qualified and strongly motivated students and to empower two-year ...
Apr 09, 2017•10 min
Hacking Car Anti-collision Systems, August 28, 2016 A group of researchers presenting at this month’s Def Con hacker conference showed how they were able to trick Tesla's sophisticated anti-collision sensors to make a car hit an object it would normally detect in its path. Before we start on the cars – you went to Def Con this year Mike – how was it? So let’s get to the cars now – who did this research? The group consisted of Chen Yan, a PhD student at Zhejiang University, Jianhao Liu, a senior ...
Aug 28, 2016•19 min
Q: Could you tell us a little about how this research began? A: Actually in 2013 Flavio Garcia, a computer scientist at University of Birmingham, and a team of researchers were about to reveal a vulnerability in the ignition of Volkswagen cars that allowed them to start the car and drive off without a key. This vulnerability was present in millions of VWs. Q: You say “about to reveal”? A: Yes, they were sued, which delayed the publication of the work for 2 years. They used that time to continue ...
Aug 15, 2016•24 min
References: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2016/07/15/beginners-guide-pokmon-go/87133450/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/19/hacker_46_months_db_breach/
Jul 24, 2016•31 min
Title: 4K Ultra High Definition Television Introduction High definition has meant 1080p (1,920 by 1,080) resolution for years now, and it's ready for an upgrade. That's where 4K, also called ultra high-definition, or UHD, television comes in. 4K is finally a mature, accessible technology. In this podcast we take a close look at UHD 4K technology referencing a PC Magazine post. Updates First some continued bad news on the security front … Businesses pay $100,000 to DDoS extortionists who never DD...
May 07, 2016•23 min
Questions we try to answer in the podcast: 1. What is the difference between an Engineering Technology degree and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering? 2. Can you also get an AS or AAS degree in Engineering Technology at a Community College? 3. What is the career path for an Engineering Technology degree holder versus a Bachelor of Science in Engineering? 4. What should you be doing in high school if you are interested in an Engineering Technology or Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree? 5....
Apr 29, 2016•21 min
Intro On Wednesday, March 30, 2016 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) started a three-year process of making our mobile internet even faster and better. The government is buying underused TV airwaves and selling it to mobile carriers for billions of dollars. These radio waves—also known as spectrum—will shape mobile US connectivity as streaming video continues to swallow up bandwidth across the country and as we inch closer to 5G internet speeds. In this podcast, we discuss the auction ...
Apr 10, 2016•32 min
On March 31st, 2016 the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team or US-CERT released alert TA 16-091A titled “Ransomware and Recent Variants”. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a computer and restricts users’ access to it until a ransom is paid to unlock it. Already in 2016, destructive ransomware variants such as Locky and Samas were observed infecting the computers of individuals and businesses – even hospitals and healthcare facilities. The purpose of this Alert is to provid...
Apr 03, 2016•32 min
We’ve hear the term “big data” used a lot lately. The term itself makes us thing about lots and lots of information. Sure there’s lots of information but what most important to an organization is what is done with the data. In this podcast we take an introductory look at what big data is, discuss how it is being used, and refer to an excellent document at SAS.com
Mar 02, 2016•22 min
As part of a National Science Foundation grant received by the Educational Development Corporation in Massachusetts, Mike and I have been involved with a group of small business social media experts from around the country defining a step-by-step social media process for Social Technology Enabled Professionals. These small business people build, maintain, manage and leverages online social networks to engage with customers, business partners, employees and key influencers with the goal of buildi...
Jul 08, 2014•17 min
All businesses and organizations desire greater engagement with their audiences. However, many are not leveraging the social media platforms that allow for the best opportunities for engagement. From static postal flyers, electronic newsletters to a lack of regular communication, engagement becomes difficult. Social media platforms call for regular, sustained communications and conversations between the businesses/organizations and their audiences. Blogs allow for that engagement by allowing rea...
Jun 15, 2014•22 min
Mike and Gordon discuss current topics. Referenced Links: Seinfeld clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia02fGpUQfU Online Classes See Cheating Go High-Tech http://chronicle.com/article/Online-Courses-Can-Offer-Easy/132093/ Facebook Will Disappear by 2020, Says Analyst http://mashable.com/2012/06/04/analyst-facebook-disappear/ Museum of Endangered Sounds http://savethesounds.info/ The Mechanics and Meaning of That Ol' Dial-Up Modem Sound http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/the-m...
Jun 07, 2012•38 min
Mike and Gordon discuss current topics. Referenced Links: http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/05/10/verizon-homefusion-uses-4g-lte-to-complete-last-mile-nationwide/ http://www.cariloha.com/eSource/Cariloha/ecom/eSource/default/default.aspx http://www.ted.com/talks/marcin_jakubowski.html http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fchameaudacier.free.fr%2Fmoto2.html...
Jun 03, 2012•36 min
Rumors are that Apple is planning on incorporating support for the new faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi specification into products this year. In this podcast we discuss the 802.11ac and other wireless specs. We discuss the following questions: - So, what’s the deal with this 802.11ac? - These 802 dot whatever standards - where do they come from? - So this 802.11ac is considered non-finalized. what does that mean? - I seem to get interference from things like wireless home phones. I know spectrum is involv...
Feb 07, 2012•19 min
This is Gordon's December 2, 2011 presentation for a series of mobile boot camps being run by The Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE); and the Boston-Area Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC) at the University of Massachusetts. High school students take a day at locations across Massachusetts, working with faculty and business/industry people to learn how to program, design, and market mobile apps using mobile programming platforms. Students will al...
Dec 01, 2011•28 min
Back in September I had the chance to interview Troy Swanson, an Associate Professor / Teaching and Learning Librarian at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL. In the interview we discussed a paper he published with Public Service Librarian Jeremy Green, also at Moraine Valley Community College. Here's the abstract from that paper published at ScienceDirect . In the Fall of 2009, the Moraine Valley Community College Library, using guidelines developed by Jakob Nielsen, conducted a...
Nov 23, 2011•23 min
In this episode, we discuss a wide range of topics, including: - The Jesters denial of service attack on the Westboro Baptist Church website. - How one might prevent such attacks - The seizure of domain names by the Department of Homeland Security - The treatment of Bradley Manning - Google and bugs in Flash - A 16-year old girl that may have hacked HBGary - Skype and encryption data leaks and, finally - How the events in Japan may effect iPad2 availability. Layer 7 Denial of Service attacks: th...
Mar 28, 2011•33 min
In December at the Convergence Technology Center's Winter Retreat at Collin College in Frisco Texas, John had the chance to shoot an IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) workshop given by Sam Bowne , from City College of San Francisco . Here's the 35 minute and 47 second Part 1 of the 4 part series.
Mar 05, 2011•36 min
In this podcast, Mike Qaissaunee , Sam Bowne and Gordon Snyder discuss recent HB Gary and Aaron Barr news, Verizon Wireless Voice over LTE, along with a recent WiFi Breakthrough. Here's some of the questions we discuss and answer in the podcast: Gordon: Sam any new news on the HBGary/Anonymous situation? Mike: Sam, I see Anonymous has released decompiled Stuxnet code - what does that mean? What's the difference between soucre and a decompiled binary? Sam: Gordon, you wrote something about Verizo...
Feb 21, 2011•27 min
Gordon talks with Dr Troy Swanson, an Associate Professor / Teaching and Learning Librarian at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL. In December Troy completed his PhD in Community College Leadership at Old Dominion University. His dissertation was titled The Administration of Community College Blogs: Considering Control and Adaptability in Loosely Coupled Systems. In the podcast, Troy discusses some of his findings.Here’s some dissertation background from Troy:Web 2.0 technologie...
Feb 18, 2011•31 min
We talk with Sam Bowne from City College of San Francisco about how a man tracked down Anonymous and paid a heavy price, Stuxnet, The Jester and how U.S. Chamber lobbyists solicited and used hackers. Links: How one man tracked down Anonymous—and paid a heavy price http://goo.gl/5Gkyy US Chamber’s Lobbyists Solicited Hackers To Sabotage Unions, Smear Chamber’s Political Opponents http://goo.gl/zI9gp US Chamber’s Lobbyists Solicited Firm To Investigate Opponents’ Families, Children http://goo.gl/u...
Feb 12, 2011•29 min
Last week at the Convergence Technology Center's Winter Retreat at Collin College in Frisco, Texas Sam Bowne from City College of San Francisco gave a brief description and update on the Wikileaks "situation" thus far. Here's Sam's excellent 16 minute and 51 second presentation.
Dec 20, 2010•17 min
Tim Frick at Mightybytes recently talked with Inc. Magazine journalist Minda Zetlin about how people are using Twitter. Zetlin had recently featured Frick in an article titled Secrets of Highly Effective Twitter Users. After that conversation, Frick wrote his own piece titled 10 Tips For Maximizing Your Twitter Account In this podcast, we review and comment on Frick’s ten tips. Before we discuss these tips, we also discuss some recent events in technology including:The FCC and net neutralityThe ...
Dec 04, 2010•37 min
In this podcast we discuss Erik Eckel's 10 Best IT Certifications for 2010 post along with Mike's recent blog posts on IT certifications.
Oct 06, 2010•35 min
This is our third network security podcast with Sam Bowne , Professor of Computer Networking and Information Technology from City College of San Francisco . We continue our discussion with Sam sharing his thoughts on security and providing us with a snapshot of some of the latest and greatest developments in the field of network security. In the Podcast we discuss - among other things: A living bot army control center. IE and Firefox: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2010/05/revisiting-the-eleonore-ex...
Jul 03, 2010•32 min
Joomla! is a popular open source content management system (CMS), that enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Last week I had the chance to discuss Joomla! with Natasha Goncharova and Tamar Schanfeld from TNR Global .
Jun 09, 2010•18 min
On Monday (5/2/10) Mike Q and I recorded a podcast titled Cloud Computing Technologies. The podcast references a couple of Infoworld.com documents that I think you will find interesting: A short white paper written by Eric Knorr and Galen Gruman titled What does Cloud Computing Really Mean A 21-page document titled Cloud Computing Deep Dive Report This Deep Dive report breaks down cloud computing into 11 categories and goes into more detail than the shorter white paper. What's really interesting...
May 08, 2010•23 min
On Sunday (4/25/10) Mike Q shared his initial impressions after some hands-on time with an iPad. Mike does a great job describing the device along with some of his favorite applications for the device. Here’s some of the questions he answers: So Mike you broke down and got an iPad - which one did you get? Why only 16 gig? So how long have you had it? So give us some of your impressions. How is the battery life? What about the screen? What about the keyboard? How much is the case? Did you get any...
Apr 26, 2010•44 min
